Bittersweet
by butmalecismyotp
Summary: Clary hates change; she can't adapt as well as most people can. She's about to move to a different city AND school, though, which means a big change. Alicante High School. Armed with a plan to "just blend in", she embarks on her new schooling adventure only to find that she ends up trying to do something about the school's most popular students. One of them being Jace Lightwood.
1. Chapter 1

Clary sighed dramatically and earned herself a pointed look from her mother, Jocelyn, through the rearview mirror.

"Remind me again why we are moving to a different city, mom."

Now it was Jocelyn's turn to sigh. "Clary, living in the city could give me great opportunities with my art. There's more people here than in a secluded town in the middle of nowhere."

Clary didn't reply and looked out of the window, seeing the skyscrapers and busy workers of the city. The urban of New York City offered something new to draw, she thought, so it would also benefit her as well as her mother. Although this thought was countered by her dislike for change. She liked routine. She wasn't spontaneous or overly daring. She quite liked being, what others may consider, "boring"; at least she had a pattern to stick to.

She was snapped out of her reverie when the car that Luke (her step-father) was driving stopped.

"Here we are ladies!" Luke announced rather cheerfully. Clary had always been slightly envious of the way he could adapt and happily so; it was almost as though he craved change.

"Uh, Luke? Are you sure?" Clary said, doubtfully. He had parked outside a white house. It looked simple and plain, but was still quite large; large compared to the cottage they had before they moved. There were flowered vines growing up the side and it wasn't neighboured by anything else directly- although Clary could see a house a bit further down the road. It had a good amount of space around it, too: gravel around the front and grass and plants (from what Clary could see) around the back. If Clary wasn't so confused, she would have found the contrast between Luke's beaten pick-up truck and this picturesque house comical.

Luke chuckled, "I think I know where I'm going, Clary." He patted her head like she was still 10. Or had the mental capacity of a 10-year-old, at least.

"But it looks-"

"Beautiful? Spacious?-"

"Well, I was going to say rather expensive but, sure, all of the above."

Jocelyn was the first to take a step toward the house. "Remember how i told you my parents had died, Clary?" Clary walked to catch up with Jocelyn as she approached the house.

"Yes." How could she forget?

"They left me money. I didn't know what to spend it on, I didn't know if I wanted to spend it; it was all i had left of theirs after the fire. Sounds silly, I know. Anyway, Luke and I had a talk and we decided that maybe I should spend a little. This move benefits us all Clary, you'll see." She smiled, that warm, motherly smile, and unlocked the door to their new life.

Inside was just as Clary had expected: not too flashy but a sure sign they had money. The floor was laminated and, as you walked in, you were looking directly at the long staircase. A bit to your right was the living room and through a doorway on your left was the kitchen. To get to the dining room, you had to walk through the kitchen. Clary didn't even want to guess how many bedrooms were upstairs.

"Now, Clary," Jocelyn smiled. "I need a room upstairs to use for my art so, before i do, go upstairs to pick your room. It'd probably be better to pick the biggest so you have room in there for your art as well."

Clary picked the biggest alright. She had more than enough room in there considering she was quite a light traveller.

**TIME SKIP (THE NEXT DAY)**

Clary still had a little unpacking to do but she had today and tomorrow to do that. They had some unpacking to do downstairs too but Jocelyn reassured her that her and Luke could do that while Clary was at school on Monday.

School.

Something Clary was not looking forward to. At least she was joining at the start of a new year, she thought, and not in the middle- people would notice her even more then. Back home she didn't really have close friends. She had friends but not best friends. Not Hey-Lets-Go-To-My-Place-Everyday-Just-For-The-Hell-Of-It friends. Most of the girls at her old school were too... girl-y. They couldn't understand why Clary enjoyed getting covered in charcoal or paint. And Clary couldn't understand why they liked a new manicure everyday or dyeing their hair then complaining that they didn't like it. They weren't mean as you would expect them to be, they would talk to Clary and Clary would talk back, they just weren't close friends. Besides Clary liked her own company, her own space. Clary hoped that there were no stereotypically mean students in her new school.

And as Clary lay in bed on Sunday night, she came to the conclusion that it was unlikely to find a close friend so she'll just blend into the background. She'll just blend in with her red hair, freckles and somewhat lack of height...

"CLARY WAKE UP!"

Clary groaned out something that sounded like "No leave me alone."

"YOU HAVE SCHOOL!"

"OKAY MOM. Oh my god, it's like you want to deafen me." Clary sulkily looked at the time "6am. Really? Mom, school starts at 9. 9 O'CLOCK. I COULD HAVE HAD ANOTHER HOUR."  
"Yes but then, sweet pea, you'd be rushing. I want you to be fully awake before you get to school."

"Wow, okay. Day's off to a bad start already."

"Just get your tiny behind downstairs after you get changed, i made breakfast!" Then she promptly left with a skip in her step.

"No one is that cheerful at 6am." Clary sighed quietly to herself.

_**The other chapters (if i decide to continue it) will be longer but I'm just seeing what the reaction will be so this is quite short**_


	2. Simon

**future-demigod, guest and Rosie: thank you! **  
**Barbie botch: what about Sizzy?! Because you asked, i may slip in some Izzy/Jonathan though hehe.**  
**claceXfangirl: i was planning to make the chapters longer, this was just a kind of taster chapter, for lack of a better word. I definitely will now though, thank you. And i read your intro to the fic, I'm intrigued!**

Still half-asleep, Clary somehow managed to get changed into a t shirt that said "too tired to function" (she thought it was fitting) and some tight denim jeans. Going downstairs she found that her mother had made food and a lot of it.

Luke was there. "Hey Clar."

"Morning Luke. Why's there so much food?"

"Your mum says she filling you up for school but i think it's because she hasn't got anything to do, what with not setting up her art studio upstairs yet."

"Ah. I see." Clary said picking up a few pieces of toast: she wasn't even very hungry.

"Well, come on. I need to stop off somewhere on the way so lets get going."

"What?"

"... your school is 40 minutes away by foot, I'm driving you."

"OH. Yeah, right. I forgot that i couldn't walk it." She said a little sheepishly.

Just as Clary approached the door and was about to shout her goodbye to Jocelyn, her mother hurried in. "Bye, love! Have a good day at school and-"

"Mom. I get that I'm going to a new school but is it really necessary to act like this is my first day ever of going to school?"

"Sorry. Just a little excited. Ooh! By the way, look out for a few kids there. They're called the Lightwoods. Isabelle and Jace are in your year, Alec is in the year above. I knew their parents and i called them up for a chat recently- you know, catch up- and i brought up our move to NYC and it just so happened that their kids go to Alicante High!"

"Jesus Christ, this thing is huge!" Clary was in Luke's truck, staring at the grand building that was Alicante High School.

"Okay have f-"

"Do not say have fun. It's school."

Luke chuckled quietly. "Okay, i wont. Stay safe."

"Yeah, yeah. Stranger Danger, Green Cross Code and all that." She got out of the truck and headed towards the school. Even though she was there 20 minutes before the bell, there was still a lot of people there.

"Oi nerd!" Clary turned around, instinctively thinking the girl's voice was aimed at her. As she turned around she saw a boy behind her wince and turn around.

"You know your name." She and the 3 girls with her laughed. They sounded like cackling witches, Clary observed. Clary almost laughed herself at how childish they were as they turned and walked away.

The boy turned back and began to walk towards the school gloomily.

Clary decided to speak up. "Uh, hey."

The boy lifted his head. He had brunette, curly hair and brown eyes covered with glasses. He was tall (and not just by Clary's standard) and wore a t shirt that said "Made in Brooklyn" with dark jeans. The boy also wore a confused expression. "Hey...?"

"I just wanted to ask if you were okay. Y'know, those girls were really pathetic."

He smiled. "Thanks but I'm used to it. Popular kids." He shrugged.

Clary frowned at this. "Well, you shouldn't be."

He smiled again. "I'm Simon, by the way." He stuck out his hand.

Clary gladly took it with a smile. "Clary."

"Fray?"

"... Yeahhhh. How do you know?"

"You're in some of my classes. We have an enrollment list on our website for each year and class." Another difference between here and him, Clary thought.

"Oh, cool! Would you mind showing me where to go for my timetable and stuff?"

"Sure! Follow me."

Simon went on to take Clary to get her timetable and show her where each class was.

Her first class was Biology. Luckily, it was with Simon and he didn't sit next to anyone so Clary sat with him. She looked at each student as they entered (she and Simon were the first in class), trying to remember them. Her mothers words about the Lightwoods came back to her.

"Simon?"

"Yeah?"

"Who are the Lightwoods?"

"... Only the most popular and beautiful people on the school. Well, Isabelle and Jace are popular. Alec stays away from that kind of thing."

"Beautiful?"

"Yep. You'll understand why."

"Are they horrible? Like those popular girls outside?"

"... Not really. They aren't mean to students like those girls are. Jace dates the girl that said that to me. You know. The tanned, blonde, fake-inside-and-out one. He doesn't bully people like her but he has a... reputation."

"How so?" Clary didnt usually care about 'popular people' but these were family friends. She didnt like the idea of her mother's friends' children being bullies.

"He's a bit of a player. Has sex with a lot of girls, apparently." Simon said nonchalantly.

"And Isabelle?"

"She's badass." His eyes sparkled a little when he spoke about her.

Clary chuckled a bit at that. "Badass?"

"Yeah," eyes still sparkling "she's nice enough but cross her and she'll impale your throat with her 8-inch heel."

"She sounds pretty cool," the class was starting to become full. "is she dating?"

"Yeah," He nodded towards the door- without the sparkle in his eyes- as a gorgeous dark haired girl walked into the room, her hand holding the hand of a white-blonde haired boy. "that's Jonathan."

15 minutes later, after the teacher- Mr Starkweather- told the class what they had to do and the class were getting on with it, the door opened. The whole class looked up- including Clary- to see a golden boy walk in. Literally, golden. Golden-blonde hair, tanned skin and, from what Clary could make out, golden eyes (they had to be eye contacts, Clary decided).

He had a smirk easily set on his face, eyes lighting up mischievously. "I'd apologize for being late but I'm not sorry


	3. Meet The Lightwoods

He was beautiful. Clary couldn't doubt that. He was intelligent. Clary couldn't doubt that. But he was arrogant, sarcastic, egotistical and narcissistic. Clary definitely couldn't doubt _that_. She had lost count of the amount of times he had insulted someone's opinion or said something sarcastic and made the teacher scowl so hard Clary was sure a blood vessel was about to pop.

For example: they were studying human anatomy this lesson and, as Mr. Starkweather put a diagram of a naked female up, Jace wolf whistled. Another example: it was silent other than the low hum of murmuring and Jace suddenly started a very in-depth discussion with Jonathan about which fruit they would prefer to fuck, if they really had to. Jace said mango ("...What? I like mangoes!"). The bell rang signalling the end of the lesson and Jace was the first to leave.

The rest of the day went by quite quickly. Clary was at her locker talking to Simon preparing to leave school and wait in the car park for Luke.

"Simon. Are you really saying that you prefer Superman over Batman?"

"No, of course I'm not saying that, I'm just saying..." Simon trailed off.

Clary turned her head to look at him and ask why he stopped half way through their conversation when she saw him with his mouth hanging slightly open and his eyes twinkling.

I know that look, Clary thought. Isabelle.

She swivelled to look in the direction he was looking and saw Isabelle gathering a few of her things out of her locker. Clary rolled her eyes and continued to put books in her bag.

"Sorry what?"

Clary chuckled lightly. "Too late, Si."

She and Simon said their goodbyes (once Simon had finished drooling over Isabelle) and Clary got to the car park where she saw Luke waiting. Again, she was slightly amused by the contrast between Luke's pick-up truck and its surroundings: the other cars (if they weren't smart and/or expensive, at least they had a decent paint job) and the school.

"Good day?" Luke smiled whilst beginning to drive.

"Yeah, it was pretty good actually."

"Made any friends?"

"Yeah actually."

"What's he like?"

"Well, he's-" Clary stopped herself, narrowing her eyes. "How do you know it's a guy?"

Luke smirked. "Clary. I doubt that you can find a band-loving, superhero-obsessed, paint-splattered girl who could eat an entire pizza by herself. You know, other than yourself."

Clary seemed to have an inner debate over this in her head. "... Okay, yes. I see your point. Anyway, he's cool. I mean, not stereotypical high school kid cool- more like my version of cool. I think we could be good friends."

"You should invite him over when we have the house sorted."

"Yeah, I think I might. So, did you buy the place that we visited this morning?"

Luke's face lit up. "Yes, I did! And guess what I'm turning it into." He asked, rhetorically. "A book store!"

"A BOOK STORE?!" Now Clary was the one excited.

"And... I'm thinking of including comics , too." He grinned.

"Oh. My. God. I can't wait."

Luke pulled the car over in front of their new house. Just as Clary got out of the car, she heard a familiar voice shout. "Fray?!"

She turned to the direction of the voice and saw Simon heading towards her. When he reached her, he had a confused yet excited look on his face.

"You didn't tell me that you lived here!"

"Uh, yeah. It didn't really come up. We've known each other for a few hours." She laughed lightly. "So what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well. See that house there?" He turned to point at the house behind him in the distance- the sand house that Clary saw this morning. The closest house to hers. "I live there."

"That's awesome!"

"I know! Okay, well i better get going, Mom has dinner cooking. Bye, Fray."

Clary grinned at the nickname her gave her. "Bye, Lewis." He grinned back over his shoulder as he walked away.

Clary walked up the path to the door of her new house after realising that Luke had gone inside so she could talk to Simon alone. She opened the door and went inside. Trying to remember the set out of the house, she turned right to the living room. There were more people in there. On the sofa that had its back to her, so she couldn't see the people's faces, was a girl with black hair, a boy with black hair and a boy with blonde hair. In the middle of the floor, sitting cross-legged, was a pale, dark haired young boy who looked about 7. With big glasses perched on his nose, he was looking at a Naruto manga, seeming rather confused. Naruto was one of Clary's favourites.

Over on the armchairs were two formal looking people; a man and a woman. The woman had hair as black as midnight, just like the boy and girl on the sofa, and was pale, skinny and business-looking. She didn't seem pale like Clary did, Clary thought. Her pale is beautiful, almost like a china doll- but with much better bone structure. The man also had dark hair (although not as dark) but was tall and burly with olive skin. Her mother was chatting happily with them both, all three of their faces didn't seem serious in contrast with the impression the China Doll Lady gave off.

No one had noticed Clary yet. Clary saw this as a good thing

"Clary!" Her mother called delightedly. "I want you to meet some people. These," she gestured with her hands. Quite over dramatically, Clary thought. "are the Lightwoods."

**I AM SORRY IF THIS SUCKS ASS. I HAVE TO DRABBLE FOR A LIL BIT TO GET THE BASIC INFO IN. IT'LL GET MORE INTERESTING, I SWEAR. Okay. Question. In the future, do you want other characters' points of view?**


	4. Naruto

**Guest: I'm going to make my chapters longer from now on, i didn't really have much time to write the last chapter which is why it's that short.**

**ShortAndTempered: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Other PoV coming up, then. Not this chapter, though; i'll start when it gets more interesting**.

**xojessica36: let's see how she fairs with each of them then, shall we? Without further ado...**

Clary didn't say anything for a few seconds as the Lightwood children turned on the sofa to look at her. She continued looking at her mother so she didn't have to make awkward eye contact with any of them.

"I told you she'd be in soon, Jocelyn. I'm going to take these boxes upstairs." She heard Luke's voice say from behind her. While her mother was distracted by Luke, Clary took the opportunity to sit on the armchair opposite the others where the older couple were sitting but quite a bit away with it being a big room.

"Now I can introduce you all!" Her mother said brightly. "This is Maryse and Robert," she said gesturing to the older couple who smiled warmly in return and these are their children; Isabelle, Jace, Alec and Max." None of them greeted her except Alec who waved slightly. Max still had his head buried in his comic.

"Max, don't be rude." Maryse said gently, as though she'd said it a hundred times before.

He raised his head to look at Clary.

"Oh hi!" He grinned enthusiastically and stood up, his glasses slipping down his nose.

Clary smiled slightly. "Hi. You like comics?"

He nodded hard. "I love them! Mom bought me Na-Nar..." he trailed off struggling to pronounce it, "this one but I don't know how to read it. Even in English. It's weird, it doesn't make sense." He frowned.

"Oh, well, I can read them. Would you like me to show you-?" She was cut off by him.

"CAN YOU?! WOULD YOU?!" He ran to chair Clary was sitting on and she automatically moved up so he could squeeze on. Everyone was looking at them blankly, no doubt wondering how they hit it off so well.

"Yeah. It's easy to get the hand of once you know. Even in English, Naruto is read the Japanese way; left to right, top to bottom."

Max looked at her, mouth slightly agape. "And that's it?" He finally pushed his glasses up his nose.

Clary shrugged with another smile smile. "That's it."

Max stood up suddenly and hugged her fiercely. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"

Clary smiled properly now and hugged his small frame back. "You're welcome."

Then Max let go and ran over to his mother- Maryse- declaring, "MOM, CLARY IS THE COOLEST!"

Maryse laughed, breaking that business-like face Clary saw. "Why don't you go into the kitchen and get some juice?" She looked at Jocelyn. "Is that okay?"

"Of course!" Jocelyn walked towards Max, "I'll take him."

Great, Clary thought, leave me with strangers. Not awkward at all.

Maryse was the first to break the silence. "Sorry, Clary. Max isn't usually like that, he's a very quiet boy."

Clary waved her hand dismissively. "Oh no, don't worry about it."

Maryse smiled at that. "My other children aren't usually this rude either," she cleared her throat purposefully and looked pointedly at them, "they do speak."

Before Clary could reply, a male voice from the sofa spoke up. "I believe that I am that rude I get told that at least 3 times a day."

Clary looked to where the voice had come from and saw Jace, the golden boy, from biology sitting in between Isabelle and Alec. He was sitting with his arms crossed across his chest, wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans- both complimented his skin tone, Clary noted. He was already looking at her with a smirk and when she caught his eye, he winked. This caused Clary to roll her eyes in disgust; she hates it when guys wink at her. His smirk dropped for a second and a small frown appeared on his face before he regained his composure and spoke again.

"Alec, meanwhile," He continued. "rarely talks to people he doesn't knows and Isabelle... well you're lucky she isn't talking." That earned him a slap to the arm from Izzy and a scowl from Alec.

The black-haired siblings spoke at the same time ("I do talk!" "I don't talk that much!") which caused Jace to snicker.

Isabelle shook her head and looked at Clary. "I seriously need to give your clothes a make over."

"Uhhh... No thanks?" Clary said it as a question after being caught off-guard by her question.

"It wasn't really a request. I could make you really cute!" She clasped her hands together excitedly.

Clary looked down at herself. "Um. I'm not really a dress up kind of girl."

"But-" Isabelle started until she was cut off by her other sibling.

"Izzy. Leave her alone, if she doesn't want to be made into a Barbie then leave her be." This was only the second time Clary had heard him speak and the first time she had seen him.

"Come on, Alec-"

"No, stop interrogating her." He turned to Clary letting her see hid bright, deep blue eyes that were noticeable from a long distance. "I'm Alec, by the way." He smiled, shyly.

Clary gave a small smile back."I guessed. Nice to meet you."

"You too."

At that moment, Max came bounding back in and immediately ran to Clary with a horrified look on his face and a strange purple stain on his t shirt.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, CLARY!" He thrusted his copy of the first Naruto magazine in Clary's face. "MIZUKI... NARUTO... FOX..." He looked like he was about to faint. "I WAS READING THAT PART AND I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT AND I DROPPED THE JUICE AND I MOVED THE COMIC SO IT DIDN'T GET STAINED AND NOW IT'S ON MY SHIRT."

"Okay Max, deep breaths." Clary tried to contain her laughter.

Her mother came in and shook her head at Clary. "I don't know why youre trying not to laugh, you can be exactly the same."

While everyone laughed and the parents continued their conversation- three siblings seated on the sofa and Max next to Clary- Clary realised that from just about 105 minutes, Clary had gotten a pretty good idea about everyone. However. Golden Boy over there was the one that caught her attention the most.

**OKAY SO I THINK THAT MAX IS ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS. Thank you all for your reviews, it really means a lot. **


	5. Best Friend

**GreyEyes217: ahaha me too! He's adorable.**  
**iamthenerd: thank you**

After the Lightwoods went back home, at around 8pm, Clary went upstairs to unpack the rest of her things. She put a few posters up on her wall then unpacked her painting supplies. She hadn't painted for a few days. Setting the easel up she knew exactly what she was about to start painting when she heard a taps on her window, like pebbles hitting it. A few seconds later more were thrown. She rushed over to her window only to be hit on the head with a pebble. Ow.

"OH SHIT. Sorry, Fray. Didn't think you'd open it." Someone whisper-shouted.

_Fray_, Clary thought, _that can only mean_...

"Simon!" She whisper shouted back. "You're an idiot, that hurt. You're supposed to throw pebbles not paving stones." Even though she hadn't even known him 24 hours, Clary felt comfortable around Simon.

"It _was_ a pebble." He protested.

"Just... Ugh. What are you doing here?" She whispered, still holding her forehead.

"Can't a guy pay his new best friend a visit?"

Clary frowned. "...Not without a reason, no. You definitely want something. _Best friend_."

He sighed. "Fine, let me up and I'll tell you."

"Climb."

"Are you kidding?!"

"No."

"Your mom wont mind, it's not that late."

"I don't care, you hurt my head."

Simon scowled. "...Fine." After a few failed attempts he climbed up to her window and fell into her room, panting. "Okay. Ow." After a few seconds he got up and sat on the swivel chair at the computer desk Luke has put in while Clary was at school.

"So, what's up Si?"

"I saw the Lightwoods here." Clary saw a hint of the sparkle returning in his brown eyes.

"Yes, that does mean Isabelle."

"What? Why would you- I wasn't- I didn't-"

Clary laughed. "You have it bad, Si."

He looked down smiling. "Shut up. Why were they here anyway?"

Clary shrugged. "Remember in class when I asked you who they were?" Simon nodded. "Well, this morning my mom told me that they were family friends. I'm guessing she wanted to introduce us."

"What are they like?" He seemed quite intrigued.

"I'm not sure, really." He gave her a confused look. "We didn't really speak. But from what I gathered Isabelle loves clothes and talks a lot, Jace is cocky and arrogant and Alec is calm and... well, nice. He's the only one who smiled, said hello properly and the others looked like they would do almost anything not to be here. Then there's Max."

"Max?"

"Yeah, their little brother. He's like a small version of you." She giggled. She went to a couple of boxes to continue unpacking her art things.

He smiled slightly at her giggle. "How do you mean?"

"He's into comics. He was trying to figure out how to read one of my favourite manga and when I told him how to read it he went a bit crazy. Then he read something and spilt juice down himself-" Clary looked up at Simon. He was spinning himself around on Clary's swivel chair and had turned a pale green colour. "Simon. Simon. SIMON. STOP IT."

He stopped. "Oh, sorry. Got a little distracted... I shouldn't have done that, I feel sick."

Clary shook her head. "AND you're both really childish."

He scoffed. "Pft, childish." He paused. "What manga was Max reading?"

"Naruto."

Simon stood up suddenly, swaying slightly from dizziness. "I LOVE NARUTO! I REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST READ IT AND I FOUND THAT NARUTO WAS THAT AND THEN MIZUKI WAS ACTUALLY I WAS SO SHOCKED."

Clary couldn't hold back her laughter this time.

"What?"

"It's just," she bent over laughing "you remind me so much of Max. That's the part that made him spill his drink."

"... I think I have a new favourite Lightwood." This just made Clary laugh more.

He nodded towards the art supplies, seeing them for the first time. "You like art?"

Clary managed to pull herself together. "Love it. I use anything; paint, crayons, pencil. Have done for as long as I can remember. Although my mom is _way_ better."

Simon shook his head. "I bet you're good really. You should draw something like manga characters."

"That's a really good idea!"

Simon nodded proudly. "I know." He turned to her laptop. "Do you watch anime?"

"I read manga more but yeah, sometimes. Why?"

"I've just started watching one, want to join?"

"Sure." She put down the box and climbed onto her bed, sitting back against her headboard. Simon joined her with the laptop a few seconds later.

That's how they spent the night. Watching anime that they couldn't understand, making small talk about anything and laughing. Up until 3am when they were both exhausted and Simon climbed (unsteadily) out of her window to go home. Clary was still baffled as to how she and Simon got on so well. It was like they had known each other their entire lives, like siblings. Clary could see her and Simon staying friends for a long while. Which is why she was determined to get Isabelle and her best friend to date.

**_I know that this is pretty short but, in my defense, I did upload a chapter like yesterday. I just wanted to share this chapter with you guys soon, i feel like it's a bit of a milestone in Clary and Simon's friendship! Hope y'all liked it. (Idek why i keep on saying y'all, British people don't say y'all. Jamie Campbell Bower does occasionally. I'm rambling. Uh, yeah, bye.)_**


	6. Karma

**Guest: Thank you? haha but seriously don't cry!**

**Queen Daenerys Targaryen: this review just made my week! I have never had such a positive response to my writing. Exams suck ass so, just because wanted another update, I'm updating it sooner than intended. I agree, Max is so adorable and I intend to do more POVs in the future. I seriously cannot believe that my writing is what you turn to amidst your exam drama. Wow. P.S- GOOD LUCK ON YOUR EXAMS**!

_**Lil bit of fiery Clary coming up for y'all in this chapter: hope you enjoy. Ooh, there are swears. Don't tell my mum.**_

Clary woke up the next morning in the same clothes as the night before. Simon's fault, Clary thought. She checked her phone for the time. 5:10am. Wow. Really? Even earlier than when her mother woke her yesterday.

With a sigh, Clary went into her bathroom and had a cold shower to wake herself up. After changing into another t-shirt with a slogan emblazoned on it (Calm Down I'm Just An Alien) and a pair of black skinny jeans, she went downstairs for breakfast. There she saw Luke sitting at the kitchen table.

"Morning Luke. Where's mom?"

"Guess." He smiled not looking up from his newspaper.

"Art room." She didn't even know why she bothered to ask.

"Correct. What are you doing up so early?"

Clary shrugged pouring milk into her bowl of cereal. "I just woke up and knew that if I went back to sleep, I wouldn't wake up at all." Looking at the clock, which said 6:35am, she sat down opposite Luke when her phone buzzed and "Sex God" flashed up on the screen.

_Do you want me to give you a ride to_ _school?_ Clary frowned then another text came through from "Sex God" before she could reply.

_It's Simon, by the way._

Clary laughed and shook her head replying, S_ure. Oh, and, Sex God?_

_It's true._

She looked up to find Luke looking at her, amused. "Simon." He rolled his eyes in response. "Oh, he offered me a ride to school, too. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure. He seems like a sweet kid."

"He is. Even if he is slightly obsessed with Isabelle Lightwood."

Luke laughed. "Isabelle?! Really?!"

Clary laughed with him. "Yes. And I mean obsessed. Bless him. OH, you didn't hear that from me."

Luke made a locking gesturing with his hand to his lips. They sat for a while until there was a knock at the door at 7:45. Clary got up to answer knowing it was Simon.

When she opened it, Simon was standing at the door in jeans and a t shirt that had the DC logo on. Clary approved.

"Your carriage, M'lady." He gestured to an old car whose paint job was worse than Luke's pick up's.

"This is yours?"

"Yep. Isn't she beautiful?"

"Uh... She's something."

It took a few tries to get "her" to work but it worked in the end and they got to school at 8:40.

As they were walking from Simon's car to the school Clary heard giggling behind them then something hit Simon on the back. She looked and it was an egg. Someone had thrown an egg at him. They both turned to see who it was and the blonde girl from yesterday and her gang was there.

"You have something on your shirt, nerd." They all giggled. At that moment, Jace, Isabelle and Alec walked up to join her gang.

"Leave me alone Kaelie. Clary, come on let's go." Simon murmured and grabbed Clary's wrist. But Clary couldn't let it go this time. Simon was her friend. Her best friend and she felt a duty to protect him. So she blew up.

She stormed up to the blonde girl. "What the hell is your problem?! Why do you think it's okay to go around bullying people? Because it isn't okay. It isn't okay that I can guarantee people that you bully dread coming to school just because they know that you will be here to torment them. Is your life really that miserable? Are you really that desperate for attention that you have to bully people so they'll notice you? Please enlighten me because I am officially confused."

A crowd had gathered by now and Kaelie had turned bright red. She turned to Simon and managed to blurt out. "Who's this, nerd? Your girlfriend?" She smirked.

"No. I'm his friend. And you know what? He really deserves friends because he's kind, he's sweet and he's funny. He doesn't even fucking retaliate to your little gang of whores. But you?" Clary shook her head. "No. You do NOT deserve friends. I bet these girls don't even like you, they just want to be popular. Who would want to be friends with an attention seeking bitch like you?"

Kaelie looked extremely flustered by this point. "Well... at least I have a boyfriend!" and gestured to Jace.

Clary laughed mockingly and humourlessly. "Yeah, because you're an easy fuck!"

Kaelie didn't have anything else to say and stormed of with her gang following her after a second. Unexpectedly, the crowd of people started clapping and whistling. One of the girls in Kaelie's gang walked back up to Jace.

"Aren't you going to go after her?"

Jace shrugged. "No. Why should I?"

"Because she's your girlfriend!"

"Well, I don't really like labels and I still don't understand why that means I should go after her. Call it karma."

Clary grabbed Simon's wrist this time and walked off with him. She thought she heard Isabelle mutter 'thank God someone said that finally.' When they were outside their first class, Simon stopped her abruptly.

"Simon, what's-" She was cut off when he hugged her tightly.

He murmured in her ear, "Thank you for that, Clary. No one had ever stood up for me like that."

"Any time, Simon. Seriously, if they bother you again, tell me." They separated and Simon nodded.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." She playfully scowled

The rest of the day went by without any more drama- except The Bitch Squad glaring at Clary once in a while. And in maths, Simon passed Clary a note that said "Your window. Tonight. 7pm. I have a plan."

_** I hope you guys liked that! Clary is super feisty in this and I think it's badass**_.


	7. Praise

**lovelydreams98, Guest, eileenaileen and emeraldrainn: I'm so glad all of you enjoyed it! Thank you so much**.

** from Ravenclaw: I love feisty Clary, too. Badass haha**.

**GreyEyes217: I hate bullies, too. I hate girls like Kaelie and there's a lot of them in my year at school who I've had words with before. That's horrible! Your poor brother. I hate it when people just stand by and watch it happen.**

**_Clary and Jace communication in this_****_chapter, jsyk._**

"So, what was the note about in Maths?" Clary and Simon were in her room after school, the time that Simon had arranged. He was back on that swivel chair.

"Your crazy episode-"

"It was not a _crazy episode!"_

Simon dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Whatever. Anyway, today's _incident_ got me thinking."

"You should watch out, that could be dangerous." Clary pointed out.

"Only if we're lucky." He grinned.

Clary looked at him suspiciously. "We?"

"I came to plot my- no, _our_ revenge- on Kaelie."

"..I'm listening."

"Pranks."

"Pranks?"

"Yes, dear Clarissa, I believe that is what I said. Try to keep up."

"Shut up, Lewis. Go on. Elaborate."

"We set up a series of pranks at school to humiliate Kaelie- without anyone knowing it's us, of course- and sit back to enjoy."

"Simon. I don't want to alarm you but I think you may be a genius."

"I knew you'd agree. This is yet another reason why we're friends, Fray." He smiled triumphantly. "Now. I've already got the first one planned. I call it 'Operation Gloop Blast'.

"Original."

"Don't mock it. This. Is. Genuis."

(**Time skip- the next morning. 8:30am. Outside Kaelie's school locker**.)

"Simon, it's a good thing you know how to rig these things up." Clary whispered as Simon was fiddling in Kaelie's locker.

Simon straightened up and closed the locker door. "Why are you whispering?"

"...I'm not sure."

Simon rolled his eyes. "Let's get to the bathrooms so we can wash this off our hands. Glue and flour combined manages to get everywhere." He said looking slightly confused and shuddered at his messy hands.

On their way to the bathroom Simon said. "Okay, Kaelie shows up to her locker at, like, 8:50 to get her things for her first class. She and her gang meet Jace there. We'll stand by your locker since it's only down the corridor so we can witness our magnificent feat and then rush off to class." He smiled proudly.

They went to Simon's locker and gathered his things then headed back to Clary's. It was 8:45 and the corridor was packed with students by now. Kaelie approached her locker with her "friends", Jace came seconds later. Clary and Simon couldn't help but stare.

She had her hand on her locker handle whilst talking to Jace who, frankly, looked bored.

Then she opened the locker. A gloopy mixture of glue and flour covered Kaelie's entire body. She squealed. Clary's hand flew to her mouth. Simon hid behind Clary to try to stop his laughter. The hallway was silent for a moment then everyone laughed. Even Jace, who Clary hadn't seen laugh yet, looked like he was trying not to burst into laughter.

Then his golden flecked eyes found Clary's green ones. And he smiled. A real smile. Clary liked that smile, she decided. It wasn't fake or covering any hidden emotions. Just from looking at him and his smile Clary knew that he knew. He knew it was her. So she did the only reasonable thing; grabbed Simon's wrist and they ran. Stopping outside of her English class they were out of breath.

"Remind me why we ran again." Simon panted.

"I just didn't want anyone to suspect us." After she thought about it, she may have been slightly paranoid with Jace.

After they regained their breath, Simon said "Okay, I'd better get to class." He glanced at his watch. It was 8:50.

"See you next lesson." He waved back.

Clary entered English class earlier than everyone else. She was glad, she may have felt triumphant that her prank on Kaelie paid off but the late night planning had taken its toll. Thank God the class wasn't Maths or she's be asleep by the time Mr. Wayland could even utter the word Pythagoras.

Clary sat down in her seat, thankful of the extra minute she had to herself, being especially grateful the teacher wasn't there so there wouldn't be an awkward silence.

She pulled out her phone, squinting slightly at the bright screen (she felt half asleep even though she wasn't). **1** **New Message.** Simon. "_Fray! I still cannot believe our plan worked_." She smirked slightly, replaying Kaelie's reaction. Then someone entered the class but Clary was too caught up with replying to Simon to realise.

"Oi, Red." The person- rudely- said, standing directly in front of her desk. Clary looked up and if she could raise one eyebrow, she would. Standing there was Jace Lightwood.

"What." She didn't say it as a question really, she just said it for the sake of saying so something that she could inject a bit of venom into.

"Woah, don't bite. I only wanted to praise you." He said whilst turning a chair around and straddling the back, facing Clary (Clary wondered how his legs looked better in skinny jeans than most girls'). That omnipresent smirk carved into his pretty face.

She really needed to learn how to lift one eyebrow. "Praise me?"

"Your little stunt. With Kaelie." The smirk was still there and he didn't seem angry which didn't really shock Clary, honestly. How did he know, though?

Clary turned "Fiery Clary" mode on. She gave a small smirk now. "Me? Stunt? With your little Barbie? Never."

He laughed a little. "I know it was you. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"Who said anything about worrying?"

Jace didn't reply, he just stared at Clary with a thoughtful look on his face and his head tilted slightly to the left. Smirk gone.

"Listen, Lightweight-"

"Lightwood."

"Lightworm. I don't need your praise. Keep it to yourself, I'm doing fine without it. Oh and, while youre keeping that to yourself, keep your dog on a tight leash. Maybe put a muzzle on it, just in case."

Jace looked confused at this. "My dog...?"

"Super bitch."

"OH. Kaelie?"

"Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner."

"Kaelie's not-" Then the bell rang.

"Get to your seat, Lightwater."

Jace took a second to continue looking at Clary and saying nothing- the thoughtful look still on his face- whilst Clary averted her eyes; she was definitely not going go to be staring into those golden eyes anytime soon if she could help it.

**Okay guys, you're probably wondering why I'm suddenly posting chapters like there's no tomorrow. Well, it is the weekend (and even though I probably have homework cough) and I can't really update a lot during the week- school ****and pure laziness****-SO I am updating a lot on the weekend... and maybe not at all during the week. I think I might stick to that schedule**.


	8. Oak Tree

** from Ravenclaw: haha I do, too. That's exactly where I got the inspiration from. Magnus obviously knew Simon's name but didn't really care enough to call it him- probably knowing it'd annoy him- as did Clary in that chapter.**

**emeraldrainn: I'M TRYING CHILD, I REALLY AM**.

**Guest: I intend to haha thank you**

**Queen Daenerys** **Targaryen: Yet again your review has made my day! Yeah, I wasn't going to update for a few days but then I saw your review saying that you had exams and my fanfic was your saving grace so I was like "I HAVE TO UPLOAD ANOTHER CHAPTER"- alongside you were people telling me to update it as soon as I had uploaded a chapter!**  
**I agree, Simon is so sweet, Kaelie definitely got what she deserved.**  
** Yeah, haha, it's because I'm English. I guess it's because it's** **MATHematicS, so we say Maths. I have to be careful when I write because I have to write "mom" in everyone's dialogue but I typically write "mum".**  
**I don't like Naruto psh psh that's for nERDS AND IM NOT A NERD I'M COOL- No, seriously, I love Naruto. And I'm not cool... Yeah.**  
**Ahaha I like long reviews! And I don't watch GoT, so I wouldn't know. Thank you so much**!

**_Oh, guys, in this Alec and Izzy are twins (aka theyre the same age and in the same year. Obviously_****.)**  
_**More Clary/Jace communication in this one yaaaay (or boo, depending on what you like)**_

The class went by slowly with Jace glancing at Clary every 30 seconds and trying to avert his eyes quickly when she caught him.

After about 20 minutes of this, Clary gave in and mouthed 'what?!' at him in his seat across the room. He looked shocked at being caught, for a second, then shrugged innocently with a smirk on his face. She huffed then turned her head back to the front of class.

The bell went and Clary scrambled to get up and out of the class, annoyed by Jace. Just as she was reaching the door she heard him shout 'Red!' but she didn't wait for him. She just walked out of the class, shaking her head at his unimaginative nickname for her.

She walked into Biology- yet another lesson with Jace, unfortunately, although he was probably busy with Kaelie in the janitors closet- and Simon was already in his seat.

"Hey. What's up?" Clary asked, sitting down in her place next to him.

"Hi," He said cheerily.

The class settled down as the teacher demanding silence and everyone faced the front. Everyone except Kaelie and Jace who weren't in the class.

She heard Simon scribbling next to her and a note was pushed towards her. _It's your turn to think up a prank._

She smiled to herself slightly and wrote_: Way ahead of you. I think that we should wait a day in between each prank. Then we'd have time yo plan AND Kaelie would be paranoid. _then pushed it back towards him.

He replied with _Good idea!_

Just then the door burst open. Jace walked in looking annoyed and bored with Kaelie trailing desperately behind him.

"Jace. Care to explain why you are late? Again." The teacher spoke up.

"Kaelie-"

"HE BROKE UP WITH ME." Kaelie's mascara was trailing down her cheeks in wet rivers.

Jace sat down in his seat and sighed. "Give me a break."

"I WON'T LET YOU BREAK UP WITH ME." She screeched. She clutched at his t shirt.

"Oh God, this must be so embarrassing for you." Jace looked at her in disgust whilst trying to detach her fists from his shirt and after a few seconds, he got her off him and he distanced himself.

Her voice lowered. "Jacey-"

Both Clary and Simon coughed to cover their laughs and received a glare through watery eyes from Kaelie. Her face was normal, though, and no trace of sadness was detectable if you discounted the tears, which looked forced to Clary.

"Jacey," she tried again. "please don't do this to me."

"Listen. We're over Kaelie," he started counting on his fingers. "I don't even like you as a person nevermind as a girlfriend. I'm pretty sure I've said 'no labels' before. The only reason you want me is so you can walk around saying that you're with a popular guy- WHICH is stupid because popularity scales in high school are ridiculous. I would go on but I think you get what I mean."

Everyone was staring open-mouthed at Jace. Clary didn't know why- maybe because no one had heard him say so much at one time. Clary was shocked because of what he said about popularity. Clary wouldn't think of him as so against 'high school populars', considering he is one.

Kaelie looked at a loss for words and stormed out. Jace breathed a sigh of relief. A few seconds later and the class went on as usual with Jace looking unaffected by the whole thing. Clary glanced at his siblings in that class; Alec and Isabelle. They also seemed unaffected, like this thing happened frequently.

A few minutes before the bell rang to signal the end of class, the teacher spoke up. "Okay class! There is an assignment I want you all to do with a partner." people started murmuring, probably discussing who they want to partner with "BUT. I will be chosing your partners!" Some people groaned. The bell rang just as the teacher told them that he'll give more information out next lesson.

The lessons before dinner went fast and Clary soon found herself at her locker where she would meet Simon for dinner.

"Thought about the next prank?" Simon grinned when he approached her. By the time he showed up, the corridor was empty.

"Like I said, it's all up here." She tapped her temple.

"Ughhh. Fray just tell-"

"Leave. I want to talk to her." Jace had come up behind Simon while Clary's head was in her locker and succeeded in making Simon jump.

Simon looked to Clary for answers but she just shrugged. She didn't know what he wanted. Simon huffed, "I'll wait for you in the cafeteria. I'll be with Eric." Clary nodded. Eric was someone Simon had recently found out liked the same music as him and so they became friends.

Once Simon had left, she turned to Jace. "What do you want Light-"

He covered her mouth with his hand. "Not another name mix-up." He rolled his eyes.

She lifted her hand up, gingerly took his wrist and took it off her mouth. "So...?"

"Walk and talk?"

She hesitated then began strolling next to Jace. "Simon's waiting for me."

Jace shook his head and frowned. "You want to spend time with him over me?"

"Yeah." Clary's tone said it was obvious.

"Why?"

"Jace I get that you're 'Mr Hot-So-Im-Popular-And-Get-What-I-Want' but Simon's my friend and you're... not."

"...You think I'm hot?" He smirked.

"You know what Jace? You're insufferable. I'm leaving since you're so reluctant to tell me why you're wasting my time." She turned to walk the other way.

Jace grabbed her elbow, spinning her back around "No no no no no no, Red-"

"And STOP calling me Red!"

He quickly put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, no more Red. Wow, if I knew you were so stubborn and such hard work I wouldn't have bothered."

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

Jace shook his head, his soft curls bouncing. "Nevermind." He gestured with his head for her to continue walking.

After a few moments of silence, Clary spoke up. "How come you don't look like your siblings and parents?"

Jace looked momentarily taken aback. "... Why do you want to know?"

Clary shrugged. "Making conversation since you _apparently_ don't want to."

"I didn't say that."

"No but you've avoided two of my questions." They were outside now and Jace seemed to be leading them towards a large oak tree away from the rest of the people there and out of sight.

By the time Jace started to answer, they had reached the tree and Jace sat down with his back to the tree. Clary copied. "I was adopted. The Lightwoods were friends of my parents and after they died when I was 10, the Lightwoods took me in." Jace was looking straight ahead at nothing in particular, picking up a leaf, ripping it up then repeating.

"Oh." Clary had always been bad at speaking to people after deaths. "At least you had the Lightwoods."

Jace smiled slightly. "Aren't you going to say sorry?"

"...Why?"

"That's what people usually say after a death. I heard it non-stop after my parents died for about a month."

Clary shrugged. "I've never understood why people say it so no."

Jace did turn to her then and smiled that real smile.

Clary accidentally said her thoughts out loud. "I prefer that smile."

Jace frowned. "What do you mean?"

Clary blushed slightly upon realising her mistake but she ploughed on through. "When you smirk, it's quite annoying but when you smile _that_ smile you look less... fake. Like you genuinely are happy; it shows in your eyes, too." She shrugged.

Without Clary hearing him, he murmured, "You really are something, Clarissa Fray."

**This chapter has like 1.6k words in, that's the longest I've done fsr. Can you guess who Clary will be paired with for her assignment? Ps- if you say Jace, youre wrong. I'm not that predictable.**


	9. Jace? And Simon!

**_The bits in bold will be me answering reviewers as usual BUT THERE ARE SPOILERS OF WHO CLARY IS PAIRED WITH SO IF YOU DONT WANT THAT SPOILER (it's only small so it's unlikely you won't but still) JUST SKIP THE BOLD PART_****.**

**emeraldrainn: haha ikr? There are a few reviewers like Coach, to be honest.**

**Liss3100: aw I'm glad it made your day! I hope your exam went well.**

**dizprincess77 and LivingAFearlessLife09: YES. She will be paired with Alec!**

**GreyEyes217: Nerds sweets are the freaking bomb omg I love them**

**lovelydreams98: I can't help but feel like most high school fanfics are where Clary hates Jace and so she just happens to get paired with him in a project. I didn't want it to be predictable (ALTHOUGH IT APPARENTLY IS AS A FEW HAVE GUESSED CORRECTLY, GODDAMN IT.)**

**Guests: thank you! I'm trying to write more haha**

**(Other) Guest: I know I still had school when I posted chapter 8 but I was doing something magical and full of wonder (Cat In The Hat quote there) called... PROCRASTINATION.**

**Queen Daenerys Targaryen: Thank you! Me amazing? Not really haha but thank you. As for the Jace/Clary, I really don't want to rush their relationship. Even though their hasn't been anything significant for them to hate each other over (~see this chapter~), I still feel that they have quite a long way to come. She IS paired with Alec. Good luck with your Biology (or I hope it went well, past or present** **aha).**

After a few moments of silence, Jace spoke up sounding humoured, "So I'm guessing you were plotting another prank?"

Clary tried to hide her smirk. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jace chuckled. "Still keeping the innocent façade up?"

She turned to look at him and just grinned causing him to shake his head. They fell into another silence; this one being more comfortable.

"Why do you hate me?" Jace asked suddenly. "And, no, this isn't me being arrogant saying that everyone should bow down to me. You just seem to have something against me."

Clary frowned slightly. "I don't hate you, Jace. Hate is a strong word. And I don't have anything against you. You just..." She struggled to find the words.

"Go on, you won't hurt my feelings." He said gesturing playfully with his hand for her to continue.

"Well... Let's be honest, you don't come across very... welcoming. Or friendly." She tried.

He shrugged. "True."

"You're not going to deny it?" She asked, curiously.

"Nope." Clary sensed with the one word answers that she wasn't going to get anywhere here. In all honesty, she was glad they could move topics quickly, especially since that whole "I like that smile." Clary couldn't help but feel like he would use that against her one day.

"Come on," he stood up brushing himself off. "we'd better get to Biology."

"Ugh. I'd forgotten we had double Biology." She said as she stood up.

Jace laughed as they started walking. "Oh God," Clary looked at him. "We're being put into pairs for the Biology assignment."

"Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and be paired with Kaelie." Clary smirked at him.

Jace groaned. "That's not even a little bit funny." And they walked to Biology, laughing together.

* * *

By the time Clary and Jace got to class, hardly anyone was in there but those that were stared at them like they had swapped heads. That included Simon who looked confused and angry as well.

Clary took her seat. "Hey-"

"You ditched me for Jace?" He sounded quite hurt.

"Si, I didn't know I'd be with him the whole of lunch. I still don't know why he originally came up to me originally!" She protested.

Simon looked doubtfully.

"Simon, I wouldn't ditch you for him. You're my best friend. I barely know him."

Simon finally smiled. "You swear?"

Clary returned his smile. "I swear."

"CLASS!" The teacher had entered looking like he hated his life. Clary wondered why he even worked here "I'M ABOUT TO ANNOUNCE YOUR PAIRINGS."

"Isabelle and Magnus."

The teacher read out a few other names, ones Clary didn't know who they belonged to.

"Clarissa and Alec." Clary was slightly annoyed how the teacher called her by her full name because he didn't know she preferred Clary. But, wait. Alec? Lightwood? She looked at him and he gave her a shy smile. It could be worse, Clary thought. It could be-

"Kaelie and Jonathan." Oh. Isabelle looked annoyed.

"And lastly..."

"No." Clary heard Simon whisper.

"Jace and Simon," the teacher looked up. "Okay, continue with yesterday's work. In silence."

Simon slid a note along to Clary. _Me and_ _Jace? KILL ME. P.S- I'll be expecting your window open at 7. Prank #2._

* * *

**(1am)**

"Remind me again how you know where Kaelie's house is."

"Me and a few guys TP'd it once."

Clary looked shocked at Simon. "Simon Lewis, Serial Prankster."

Simon grinned. "It was a good idea of yours though," He said gesturing to Kaelie's pink car. "this thing is her pride and joy."

"And you're sure that she'll have to go to school even when she realises?"

"Her parents spoil her but they're strict about her school attendance." He shrugged.

Clary came around to the side of the car that Simon was working on. "All done."

"Yeah, me too."

"Oh, and, how do you know how to pick the lock"

"Because I lock my keys in my car at least once a week."

Clary rolled her eyes as Simon got the door open. He held his hand out for Clary to hand him the 'recipe' and then fiddled underneath the steering wheel. She handed him something else and he climbed into the back and hid it. After a minute or so, he got out grinning. "Come on, we'd better get out."

**(8:35am)**

"Why did we have to get here earlier today?" Simon asked as he parked his car aka rust bucket.

"Because when we get to school usually it's, like, 8:40. Kaelie is just getting here then- much to our misfortune- so we can wait to see her without having to hear her scream first." They both got out and waited.

3 minutes later Kaelie pulled up looking like she could murder a puppy. No doubt it was because someone had touched her precious car. Her car. Her car that was now spray painted a moss green, with _"haha"_ on the sides in black. Her car that now had a fish rotting somewhere in the back. Her car that was about to give her another special surprise when she honked the horn signalling to her friends that she had arrived. Everyone just stared, they didn't laugh this time. Not yet anyway.

Sure enough, she honked horn ignoring the stares and receiving a disgusting mixture of eggs and feathers in her face. Then everyone laughed. Simon had tears streaming down his face, he was laughing that hard, while Clary turned around so she could try to breathe.

When she turned back around her eyes met someone else's. Jace was leaning against his car quite a bit away from Simon's and shaking his head smiling at Clary. Clary grinned and then shrugged at him. Only then did he start laughing. He didn't approach Clary or say anything, he just gave her one more real smile and walked into the school.


	10. Friends' Hugs Feel Like That Right?

** From Ravenclaw, Guest(s): Thank you!**

**ddiva: she definitely does deserve it. That's exactly what he does; he rarely smiles like that for anyone else.**

**Aly Reyes: hahaha indeed**.

**Queen Daenerys Targaryen: Thank you! In this fic, Alec doesn't have feelings for Jace, maybe that's why he's a bit warmer towards Clary. I've always thought throughout the TMI series that, even though he was a bit mean to Clary and he is the eldest Lightwood, he's shy and kind. I channeled that into this fic. Only time will tell on the whole Kaelie thing haha. Jace and Clary's relationship is definitely progressing.**

"Okay how many more pranks should we do?" Simon asked Clary in Biology. Clary was convinced that that school hated her. It must do to give her Biology 4 of the 5 school days in Week A. And today they have it last period.

Clary weighed up the decision. "1 more. One we plan together. It has to big though."

Simon nodded. "Huge. When, though?"

"Not until next week. That gives us today, Friday and the weekend to plan."

"You're so evil, Fray." Simon tutted, mockingly.

"I know, I know."

After being kept behind for a few extra minutes to explain the assignment, that it was in for a week that day and they wouldn't be doing it in class so theyd have to take it into their own hands, the class was allowed to go.

Clary was at her locker with Simon gathering her things to go home when she heard a voice behind her.

"Red... Uh, you." She turned to see Jace and Alec.

She gave Jace a look and he immediately corrected himself. "My bad. _Clary."_

"And his name is Simon."

He waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah."

"Anyway, _Clary,"_ Alec spoke up this time. "Since we have to use our own time to do the assignment, would you like to come round mine?"

"Ours."

Alec looked at Jace. "Fine. _Ours."_

"Sure," Clary nodded. "When?"

"Uh, Saturday? About 11am?"

"And you." Jace pointed at Simon.

Simon looked blankly. "What?"

"Come round ours same time."

"Jace, I'm flattered but I'm straight-" Simon started mockingly.

Jace scowled. "You know what I mean."

Simon sighed. "Sure, whatever."  
Isabelle flounced up to her locker then- not without the stare from Simon.

She turned to Alec. "Oh, by the way, Magnus will be over at ours for the assignment. Saturday at 12."

"Might as well make it a party." Clary muttered.

"And w-why would I care?" Alec flushed.

Jace frowned and Clary frowned. "No need to be so hostile, Alec." Jace said.

"I'm not!"

Alec has a thing for Magnus? ALEC IS GAY?!

"Isabelle. We need to have a talk." Alec walked off with Isabelle, looking annoyed and leaving Jace looking at his retreating back.

"Oh, Clary, I need to go get my Math book from my locker." Simon said after being snapped out of his Isabelle trance. Clary nodded and he walked off to his locker.

Jace turned to Clary. "What's Alec's problem?"

Clary shrugged. "He's your brother."

They stood in silence for a second.

"I cant believe I'm paired with Simon."

Clary frowned. "He's not that bad."

Jace shrugged.

"Can I ask you something?" She sat down on a bench near her locker, outside a classroom. Jace joined her.

Jace looked at Clary suspiciously. "Uh.. Sure?"

"Why did you stand by and let Kaelie bully Simon?" That question had been bugging Clary all day.

Jace looked down briefly, choosing his words carefully. "You have to realise, Clary. I'm a selfish person. I can be a mean person. I may not have bullied him but I didn't stop it. I only knew about it a couple of days before you stepped in but that's not excuse. I regret it. I stopped her once but then she started doing in when it wasn't obvious or to people i didn't know." He shook his head, looking disappointed in himself.

"You're not a mean person, Jace. If you were, you would have joined in or not stopped her the first time."

"You could get into trouble for what you're doing to her but you're doing it because you care for Simon. I hope he appreciates you, Clary."

Clary thought how weird it was how deep this conversation was getting but it felt good to talk to Jace like this. Natural.

She nodded. "And I appreciate him."

Jace smiled but it was a sad smile. She could tell even though he was trying to hide it.

Clary frowned. "Are you okay?"

Jace just nodded.

"Jace. I get that you think I don't like you but tell me what's wrong." After a few seconds when he was still looking away from her she poked his shoulder.

He turned to face her and smiled the real smile, even though it was a little sad. "You're so stubborn. You're not letting it go, are you?"

"Nope."

"It's just... I see you with Simon. And Alec with his friends. And Izzy with hers. And even little Max with his and... i don't have that. With anyone. Sure I have people like Sebastian and Jonathan but they're idiots. I don't even like them. I want a friend who'll care about me like you care about Simon and vice versa... That sounded so stupid-" He started to stand up but Clary pulled him back down.

"No no no. No, it didn't. I get it. If you wanted me to, Jace, I could be that friend for you."

Jace looked at her, confused. "But... you hate-"

Clary covered his mouth with her hand like he did to her yesterday. "If you say that I hate you, I will punch you in your neck."

Jace laughed after she removed her hand. The real smile was back. "And you're willing to put up with me?"

"Put up with you? Why, is Jace Lightwood, actually doubting whether someone would want to be his friend?" Clary smiled.

Jace smiled back. "If you tell anyone, I'll punch _you_ in the neck." They both laughed.

I'm waiting in the car park for you, Fray :) Couldn't be bothered to climb back up the stairs to your locker. That was the text Clary got from Simon.

"Si's waiting for me." Clary said standing up.

"Yeah, I'd better go find Alec and Izzy." He stood up and opened his arms, almost nervously. "Does a friend get a hug?"

Clary laughed. "Of course."

And they hugged. Clary's arms around his torso, Jace's head resting on Clary's. They parted and said their goodbyes. They both walked in opposite direction and both ignored how perfectly they fit together.

**_THE ENDING WAS SO CHEESY BUT TBH I_****_THOUGHT IT WAS FREAKING CUTE. Peaceskies_**_._


	11. That Hug

**TIDTMIgirl: haha i thought it was cute too :'))) ahhhh**

**Queen Daenerys Targaryen:** **USE CAPS LOCK. YAY FOR NOT KNOWING WHETHER SOMEONE IS ANGRY OR HAPPY. Unfortunately, the last prank or planning isn't in this chapter. Or the Saturday meet up. It's probably about to get cringier haha (A/N: I don't think cringier is a word, DO NOT use it in English class). Thank you! Again.**

**emeraldrainn, Aly Reyes, ravenwalker321, madelynrichardss, Liss3100, from Ravenclaw: THANK YOU ALL! You're awesome.**

**Hey,****_ guys. FUN FACT: I'm writing another fanfic! I won't be uploading it until this fanfic is finished,_****_though. It's_**_**a**_**_little (okay, a lot) darker. Darker as in more swearing, some sensitive subjects (i don't want to say just yet (spoilers)), POSSIBLY lemons. Any questions- that wont reveal many spoilers- just put them in the reviews. Thank you_****!**

**JACE POV (ayyyy finally) (not 1st person but Jace's thoughts, nonetheless**)

"Dude. Why are you smiling like that? It's really creepy." Alec said on the ride home with Jace and Izzy. Izzy had demanded to drive and no one will ride shotgun with her driving.

"Smiling like what? I'm not smiling." Jace said even though he was smiling.

"Is it that red-haired girl?" Izzy spoke up.

"What red-haired girl?!" Jace stopped smiling and his eyes flew open wide.

Izzy smirked. "Uhhh... Carrie?"

"Her name's Clary!" Jace scowled.

Alec nudged him. "Jace... I think she knows her name. She just wanted to see reaction to prove-"

"YES, THANK YOU, ALEC." In truth, it was because of Clary. Jace couldn't stop thinking about that hug. It was a hug, for God's sake; friendly gesture because Clary had agreed to be his friend. That's all. But it was so... perfect.

Jace groaned out aloud. "I'm going soft."

"SEE IT IS ABOUT CLARY." Izzy said excitedly.

Jace blushed slightly. He didn't mean to say that out loud.

Alec leaned towards him, eyes narrowed. "Is that... Did you just... ARE YOU BLUSHING-?!"

"JACE LIGHTWOOD IS A MAN, HE DOES NOT BLUSH." Jace protested.

"OVER A GIRL." Alec finished. Then he and Izzy exchanged a look.

Jace's eyes narrowed now. What was that look? "Wait, I saw that."

Izzy shrugged, innocently. "Saw what?"

Jace shook his head fiercely. "Don't act innocent. What was that look?"

"It's just..." Alec started tenderly. "You don't smile like that over girls. You don't get protective when we don't remember their name- half of the time you don't remember them. And you certainly don't blush over them!"

Jace started to protest until he realised how right Alec was. He just stuck to saying the facts. "We're just friends."

"SEE. When was the last time you had a friend who was a girl? And i don't mean you'd had sex with them and kinda talked after." Izzy said almost accusingly.

Jace shrugged and looked out of the window. They were right. Of course they were. But Jace had no idea what was going on. Jace Lightwood, who usually had everything figured out.

"Seriously, Jace," Alec said softly now. "What's going on?"

Jace looked at Izzy through the mirror then to Alec. He shook his head. "I honestly have no idea. We talk and it's not like I talk to other girls; I don't flirt and she sees straight through me. I can be honest and I just know she wont judge me. I trust her. Hell, I even told her about my parents. I didn't even think anything of it until we hugged just." Jace shook his head again, like he was trying to clear a fog off his brain.

Alec and Izzy were both stating at him with their mouths open. Jace thanked God that they were now parked outside their home.

He quickly got out and almost sprinted to their house, ignoring the unknown car outside his home. He flung open the door and ran up the stairs to his room. Or he planned to. He took the first step and then Mayrse scolded him; "JACE! We have visitors!"

Jace turned around to face the living room and looked straight into green eyes across the room. _Clary_.

**CLARY POV (Just as she came out of school- in Simon's car.)**

Clary sighed heavily, resting her head against the dashboard.

"Uhhh... Fray?" Simon sat awkwardly.

"Just drive me home, Si."

"You okay?"

_No, I just hugged Jace Lightwood and my heart exploded_. "I just have a headache."

Simon eyed her suspiciously but nodded.

Then Clary's phone vibrated with a text from her mum. _Head over to the Lightwoods'. We're staying for dinner, love you xx._ The address was added, too.

Clary groaned. Simon looked over and Clary turned her phone towards him.

"Guess I'm making a detour."

Clary managed a smile. "Thanks, Si."

Simon dropped her off and she didn't see the Lightwoods' children's car. They must not be there yet. She went up to the door and knocked. She heard the clicking of heels on a wooden floor and then the door was opened by Maryse.

"Clary!" Clary was pulled into a hug, unsuspectingly."Your mother's through here!" She was directed towards the living room where she saw her mum.

"I'll be in the kitchen." Maryse left going into, what Clary assumed was the kitchen.

"... So?" Clary started.

"Maryse invited us over to have dinner with her and the kids since Luke and Robert were both going to be out tonight."

The door opened then and Jace raced through. He didn't seem to notice Clary or her mother and ran straight to the stairs. He only got to the first step when his mother noticed and shouted at him. He faced the living room and made eye contact with Clary immediately.

"...H-hi. Clary... Mrs Garroway."

"Hello, Jace. Please, call me Jocelyn."

Jace nodded, seemingly unable to say anything else. He hadn't looked away from Clary yet. And she hadn't looked away from him.

Then Alec and Isabelle walked in.

"Jace?! What the hell?! Just because we were talking about C-"

"ISABELLE SHUT UP!" Jace shouted frantically, tearing his eyes from Clary's. "Uh... We have guests."

Isabelle and Alec looked at Clary and her mother. Isabelle looked shocked and Clary gave an awkward wave.

"I'll leave you kids to talk." Jocelyn joined Maryse in the kitchen.

"So uh Alec and I have to talk. Elsewhere." Isabelle nervously laughed and dragged Alec out.

Jace sat down on the sofa. "So... Hi. Friend."

Clary smiled despite herself and sat down next to him. "Hi, friend. If you're wondering why I'm here, your mom invited my mom and me over here for dinner."

"Ah. I was wondering."

"What was that with Alec and Isabelle?"

Jace cleared his throat and his eyes widened fractionally. "I-I don't know."

Clary's eyes narrowed. "Okay, seriously. What's wrong?"

Jace frowned.

"You seem... I don't know, nervous?"

Something seemed to click in Jace. That smirk came back. "I'm not nervous. I don't get nervous."

**JACE POV**  
"Okay...?"

Jace had to go back to Normal Jace. He wasn't acting like the old Jace any more and he didn't know how he felt about that.

"Is your friend still coming for Saturday?"

"Simon," She looked at him disapprovingly. "And yes he is."

"Shame."

Clary rolled her eyes. "Idiot."

"He is a bit, isn't he?"

Before Clary could reply a voice spoke up. Or rather shouted up. ("CLARYYYYYYYY!") and a small figure ran into her view and clambered onto her lap.

"Oh. Hey, Max." Her face brightened up immediately.

Max threw his arms around her neck without hesitation and she responded. If I did that, Jace thought, she would not respond in that manner.

"Clary I-" Max frowned. "Are you two dating?"

Jace looked at Clary and she was blushing. Cute.

She coughed. "Uh. No, Max. We're not."

Max continued frowning. "But... you're sitting close. And you were looking at each other weird."

Jace coughed. "No. No no. We're not doing any of... that."

Max nodded furiously and wiggled his finger at them both accusingly. "You are! You are!... You'd make a good couple! Bye!"

And with that Max jumped off Clary's lap and ran into the kitchen.

"Uhhh." Jace and Clary said at the same time.

That was awkward.

**_ys,_****_I_****_freaking love Max even more._**


	12. Isabelle's Scheming

**Guest: "What are Alec and Isabelle talking about?" You'll find out at the beginning of the chapter but um *coughs and points to title of the chapter*.**

**secr3tshadowhunter, Guest(s), Niamh x, Aly Reyes : thank youuu!**

**GreyEyes217, ddiva, Guest, TMITIDgirl: I love Max, too. It's weird, it's kinda hard to write Max because he was only in the books for a short period of time before THAT EVENT THAT WILL NOT BE MENTIONED- LET'S MOVE ON- and I don't have younger siblings so it's quite like guessing really, but I love Max and I hope I brought him into this well.**

**_OKAY GUYS. I'M GOING TO PUT THE SUMMARY (I DON'T THINK IT'LL BE THE OFFICIAL ONE; JUST A DRAFT) OF THE NEXT FANFIC I WILL WRITE (as mentioned in a previous chapter's AN) AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. As I said, it will be darker. I have changed it slightly, it's even more M rated now- drugs, violence, swearing, possible sex, sensitive issues that I won't reveal yet as it is a bit of a spoiler. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read the summary; I'm looking forward to testing myself with this fanfic and I want to get your initial views and whether you would read it. Thank you!_**

**Izzy****POV**

Max ran into the dining room towards an excited Isabelle and a scowling Alec.

"So, did you do it?" Isabelle asked frantically.

Max rolled his eyes dramatically. "Well, I said i would!"

"And...?"

"They stuttered and looked really embarrassed," Max giggled. He then frowned. "I think Jace blushed. He must really like Clary."

Isabelle handed Max a dollar. "Thanks, Max! This could make them realise their feelings." Max smiled, nodded then ran into the kitchen.

"Izzy!" Alec scolded. "I cant believe you paid Max to say that Clary and Jace would make a cute couple. Stop trying to play match-maker, they've only just become friends."

Isabelle shrugged. "They're going to end up together anyway, it's inevitable. Might as well speed up the process. In fact, I think I might help." And with that she flounced into the living room with a wary Alec trailing behind her.

Jace was sat on the sofa, leaning back looking quite relaxed with that stupid smirk on his face. Isabelle sat down in the armchair left of the sofa and picked up a Vogue magazine from the coffee table. Alec sat down on the armchair right of the sofa staring at Isabelle warily- wondering what her next move will be, no doubt.

Isabelle flicked a page, pretending to be interested even though she had read that issue hundreds of times. "Hey Clary. Jace."

"...Hi." Clary said whilst Jace just looked at Isabelle blankly. Clary also looked wary; Isabelle guessed that was because Alec was so she glared at him.

Isabelle glanced at Clary. "Max looked happy when he saw you Clary. What did he say?"

At this, Jace stiffened and Isabelle resisted the urge to smirk. Not looking so smug now, Jace, she thought.

Clary's eyes widened slightly but Jace answered. "He," cough "He said that Clary and I makeagoodcouple." The last part was said in a rush.

Isabelle made a show of staring at the two of them. She squinted slightly, tilting her head. Then slowly nodded. "Yeah, I can see that." Then casually went back to her magazine but not before glancing at Alec who had his hand over his face in second-hand embarrassment.

"What?!" Jace and Clary said in unison.

Isabelle looked back up. "I mean, I get it. The whole opposites attract thing. And you even speak in at the same time. It's quite cute." She shrugged nonchalantly but on the inside she was bursting with excitement. Again, she looked back down at the magazine whilst Alec sunk further down into his chair.

There was silence for a few moments until Clary said, "I'm going to ask your mom if she needs help." looking like she was praying that she said yes.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Jace hissed, "Izzy! What are you doing?!"

"Oh, come on Jace, it's clear you have feeli-"

"Isabelle. Clary and I are friends. AND that _friend_ is in the next room, don't talk so loudly."

"Ah, but you wish you were more than friends."

"Izzy." Jace said warningly.

"See, you won't deny it."

"THAT'S BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT I FEEL."

There was silence until Maryse came into the room. "What's with the shouting?!"

Jace shook his head and mumbled that he'll be in his room then approached the stairs.

**JACE POV.**  
When Jace was called down for dinner, everyone was already at the table. Jace was sat next to Clary- probably thanks to Isabelle- and he could feel the tension coming of the teenagers in waves. Isabelle was sitting opposite Jace and, when she caught his eye, she'd nod slightly towards Clary. He was pretty sure she wanted him to propose right then.

When the meal was finished and gratitude was shown by Clary and her mother, they both insisted to wash the dishes. Jace jumped in to take Jocelyn's place though, he wanted to talk to Clary about everyone's behaviour.

Clary had an amused look on her face while she washed. "It's funny, you don't strike me as the housework type. Or volunteering to do housework type."

"You'd be surprised." Jace replied, drying a plate.

"I am."

He waited a second before saying, "Did you notice how weird everyone was acting? Max, Izzy and even Alec?" He picked up another plate.

Clary frowned lightly, a crease forming on her forehead, interrupting the smooth porcelain skin there. "Yeah, I did. What was that about?"

Jace shrugged. "They're strange."

"Max is sweet. I can't say much for the others."

Jace laughed slightly, "Max likes you. You're one of the chosen few."

"It's only because I like comics." She placed some cutlery down for Jace to dry.

Jace shook his head, "Maybe that's what _started_ it." Clary didn't reply but he didn't want to stop talking. He liked talking to her.

"So, you and him aren't dating?"

"I don't know who you mean but the answer is no." She placed another plate down.

"Simon."

"You _do_ know his name!" Clary faked astonishment.

Jace laughed, "Don't act all shocked."

"Well, it's quite annoying."

"Keeping up my rep on the street." Jace winked. God, why did he _wink?!_

Clary didn't seem affected, though; he thought she'd at least blush. "Yeah because you care so much about that, clearly."

Jace smiled, "It helps me, but I don't care."

"It helps you get _laid."_ Clary pointed at hin with a fork then put it down for him to dry.

Jace frowned. He hadn't even been with a girl in about 4 days- which was a lot for him. He wondered why he hadnt even been bothered in a girl since then. then he realised: he had known Clary for... 4 days. Coincidence.

He snapped out of it when Clary spoke again, "besides, you won't be able to keep your 'rep' up if you have suds in your hair." She pointed with a spoon this time.

**CLARY POV (I wanted a change)**  
"Neither will you." He reached past her into the sink and grabbed some suds. She immediately back away.

"No. _No._** No.** Jace. Don't even dare-" He threw them and they hit her on the top of her head because she ducked.

She glared even though she was smiling. "You will regret that, Lightwood."

She picked up a bowl that was in the sink and before he could move, he was drenched in water.

"You little-" He grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder and began walking.

"No, Jace, no. Whatever you're about to do-" She heard the gasp of Maryse and her mother.

"JACE. PUT OUR GUEST DOWN." Maryse scolded.

"CLARY, WHY IS HE SOAKING? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Jocelyn asked at the same time.

Jace turned around. "Mrs. Garroway, your daughter threw water over me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must have revenge."

"Clary! Did you-?"

"He deserved it!" Clary said from over Jace's shoulder.

"... You may have revenge, Jace."

"MOM!" Clary was shocked, her mom wouldn't usually do that. When Jace turned, she saw her mother smiling fondly, "Is this because he acted polite?! Because HE ISN'T."

She had to yell the last part because Jace had continued walking... to the backyard.

Clary saw grass underneath them. "Jace, what-?"

"We're going for a swim."

Clary then realised that the Lightwoods had a swimming pool. Before she could wonder how rick they were, Jace jumped in the pool still holding her.

They came back up together with Jace holding Clary's waist and lift her slightly so they were at face level. Jace had jumped in the deep end, Clary observed, the water was upto his shoulders buy Clary wouldn't be able to stand.

"You," she prodded his chest. His very firm (and very visible through his white shirt) chest. "are an idiot."

"If I was an idiot, I'd let you go."

Clary grabbed onto his shoulders. He eyed her, "I'm not actually going to."

"I know. Precautions. I don't really like water. Well, large bodies of water."

Jace's eyes widened. "I didn't know I-"

"It's okay, I can swim, I just don't like them." She laughed nervously. "Swear you wont let go, though, because I will freaking drown."

Jace looked her in the eyes and lowered his voice. "Clary, I _swear._ Okay?"

She kept the eye contact and nodded. "But I'm not letting go of your shoulders. If you don't mind."

"Not at all." Jace breathed, maintaining the eye contact.

_**Okay some of these chapters are just ones that'll help you get to know Alec or Izzy or other characters better. They're also to build relationships; I don't want to be like "Clace hate. Clace friendship. Clace date." like nooooo.**_

**SUMMARY FOR MY NEXT FANFIC**  
_**Bullet Holes and Crossed Paths:**_  
**"Jace and Clary's paths have crossed before but not like this. They were enemies, then. Now, realising each other's potential, they're working together. They have a lot of things in common, sure. Like love of drugs, money, sex and eagerness to fire a gun. But that certainly doesn't mean they'll get on all of the time, even if their bond does continue to grow. Especially if those things they have in common are the things in the way."**

**I may or may not edit that/change the name. PLEASE tell me what you think. Thank you~**


	13. Thanks To Isabelle

**catherinegiusti, emeraldrainn, ddiva, Emily1213, IRAM: thank you so much**!

**Aly Reyes: YAY FOR CLACE-THAT-AREN'T-REALLY-CLACE-BUT-ARE-FRIENDS-BUT-LETS-BE-HONEST-THEYLL-GET-TOGETHER-AT-SOME-POINT-CLACE** **YAY**

**Alicella Ivashkov and percabethandclace: that's so good to hear! I was so worried that nobody would want to read it; I still kinda am tbh.**

**Liss3100: ***TALK ABOUT NEW FANFIC (BULLET HOLES AND CROSSED PATHS)*** I'm glad you're excited about the new fanfic! I, personally, wouldn't call Clary and Jace "druggies". Theyre more like drug lords- for lack of a better word- although they do take drugs themselves sometimes. They DO seem to like to be in control of themselves and their surroundings which is why they don't consume hard drugs massively in the fic (cigarettes are a substitute for both Clary and Jace). They do take drugs in the fanfic- they're surrounded by the stuff, the temptation is there. As for liking to be in control- they wouldn't be able to be where they are now if they didn't.**

_**I HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION; do Americans say hot cocoa whereas Britons say hot chocolate?**_

**CLARY POV**

"CLARY! I HAVE A SPECTACULAR IDEA." Isabelle high pitched shout rang through the house.

Both Clary and Jace were sitting at the dining room table together with hot chocolates and thick towels draped around them courtesy of Maryse.

"That's does not sound good. I suggest you run for the hills." Jace said when they heard Isabelle's screech.

Isabelle bounded into the dining room enthusiastically. "There you are!" She said, not sparing a glance for Jace who pulled a face at her childishly.

Clary tried not to giggle. "What is it?"

"Girl time!" Isabelle grinned brightly.

Jace choked a little on his hot chocolate. "Uh..."

"I'm soaking wet-"

Isabelle waved her hand dismissively. "No worries. Whilst you two were doing..." she made a gesture with her hands where the tips of her index fingers came together "whatever it is that you were doing in the pool," Clary blushed and Jace scowled "your mom went home and brought back some spare things. She said we have to be done for 10pm so hurry and finish up here; I'll be waiting in my room." she pointed at Jace "Don't hog her." Then left.

Jace smirked at Clary.

Clary frowned "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that this is Isabelle. There is a huge possibility that she will force you to wear make up, dress up and talk about stereotypical girls things."

"But I don't wear make up-"

"I don't think she'll really care that much, Red."

"I thought we said no 'Red'."

"My bad."

They had now finished their hot chocolates and it was 7:30pm. "I had better head up." She stood up. "Wait... I don't even know which one her room is."

Jace laughed and stood up too. "Come on," he ruffled her hair "I'll show you. I'm going up anyway."

When they reached a door a the beginning of a corridor, Jace stopped. "Well, this is my room. And that," he pointed to a door further down. "is Izzy's."

"Well, goodnight I guess." Clary felt a little awkward. Just being in Jace's house was weird, nevermind being his friend

She turned to walk to Izzy's room but Jace grabbed her wrist and spun her back around. He held his arms out again, just as nervously. "Hug for your friend? Come on, millions would pay for this." Clary rolled her eyes.

And they hugged. And yet again they fitted together perfectly. And they didn't notice the sound of a door opening.

"AWWWWW!" They jumped apart, blushing.

"Izzy! When did you get there?" Jace asked, voice slightly uneven.

"About 5 minutes ago. I heard you talking, like, 10 minutes ago then it went quiet so i came out here and you were clinging onto each other like you were never going to let go." She wiped away an imaginary tear. It went awkwardly silent. "I'll give you a second," She winked " but that's all!" And went back inside.

Jace faced Clary rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, that was..."

"Awkward? Weird? Confusing?"

"Yes."

"...Yeah. Well. Goodnight, Jace." She began walking towards Isabelle's room.

"Goodnight, Clary." She turned whilst opening the door and he gave her a real smile.

"TELL ME EVERYTHING!" Izzy shouted in Clary's face before she even closed the door.

Clary grabbed her things and changed into clean clothes in Isabelle's bathroom.

"Okay 1) I'm doubting that these walls are sound proof 2) There's nothing to tell-"

"There. Is. Everything. To. Tell. Do not give me that 'we're just friends' crap like Jace did."

"But... we are just friends."

"Yes BUT you want to be something more."

Clary avoided the question. "What makes you think that?"

"It's so obvious."

"It is?"

"AHA! YOU DO LIKE HIM."

Clary blushed "I DIDN'T SAY THAT!"

**JACE POV**

Jace heard Izzy and Clary shouting before he even got chance to change. Taking his shirt and jeans off and putting pyjama bottoms on, he crept into the hallway towards Izzy's door.

"AHA! YOU DO LIKE HIM." He could tell that was Izzy's voice even though it was slightly muffled through the door

Clary hesitated then said, "I DIDN'T SAY THAT!"

Jace shook his head. He knew Izzy would start this up again.

"YOU BLUSHED. YOU ACTUALLY JUST- OH MY GOD. You literally need to date right now."

"It's like 7:30-" Clary said, obviously trying to avoid the subject. Jace laughed quietly to himself.

"CLARY, STOP BEING DIFFICULT. GO. NOW. GO."

Jace heard footsteps coming towards the door and panicked. He couldn't run back, the doorknob was turning already. BATHROOM. Say he was going to the bathroom. Good thinking.

Clary appeared out of the door and bumped straight into Jace after being pushed. Izzy hadn't come with her.

"Jace? What-"

"BATHROOM." He blurted out. Nice one, Jace. Smooth.

"Uh...dont you have one in your room?" she shook her head. "Nevermind." She began walking towards the stairs.

"Wait, where are you going?" Jace started after her.

"... Home?"

"Why?"

Clary laughed. "I'm beginning to think Isabelle only wanted me to talk about you."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Bye."

"NO. Uh, let me show you something."

"I bet you say that to everyone, Lightwood."

Jace laughed then winked "Only to the special ones. Come on, it's outside."

"If you throw me in the pool again I swear-"

"I wont, come on." Jace grabbed her hand without thinking and they walked towards the little greenhouse hand-in-hand.

Jace was glad that it was quite warm because he was still shirtless. When they got there, Jace led Clary to a low wall. "I like to come here to think. The others rarely come here. Izzy and Alec have allergies and mom, dad and Max don't bother."

Clary was looking around in awe. "So who tends to it?"

"Me," Clary looked at him in surprise and he responded "It helps relax me. If I'm angry, it calms ms down. Mom and dad offered to hire a gardener but I didn't want to."

They sat in comfortable quietness for what seemed like ages with only the sounds of nature around them.

**GENERAL POV**

They were sitting on the wall, their hands flat either side of them just centimeters apart.

Jace turned to Clary but she still stared ahead. "Clary." he said softly, almost a whisper.

"Clary." She turned her head to look at him so their noses were just as close as their fingers on the wall. They were staring into each other's eyes.

Jace cleared his throat, looking nervous and spoke with a gentleness she didn't know he possessed. Jace never looked nervous. "Clary. May I kiss you?" He was whispering now.


	14. The First of Many

**Aly Reyes and Guest: I COULDN'T RESIST LEAVING IT WITH A CLIFFHANGER. I KNOW, I KNOW, I'M EVIL.**

**Guest(s): Thank youuu**

**xojessica36: haha they are! And Izzy ships them so hard haha. Thank you**

**ddiva: isn't he?! Idk. Maybe. If I'm feeling generous...**

** from Ravenclaw: FINALLY. Right? Idk, I'll google it after I finish writing.**

**xXdifferentandafraidXx: haha thank you. And that means a lot, I'm pretty nervous about the reaction it'll get.**

**ravenwalker321: I might just not let them kiss since everyone is soooo desperate for Clace action...**

**emeraldrainn: Opposite? What, like, Americans say hot chocolate and Britons say hot cocoa? But I'm British and I/we say hot chocolate...?**

**fangirlfor3ver: thank you. Ah, right. Well, Britain/American words are confusing**.

_**Without further ado, my desperate readers, I give you Chapter 14: The First of Many**__._

Clary didn't say anything for a few seconds which made Jace panic. He didn't want to just kiss her and take her off guard so he asked her; even though he'd never asked a girl for a kiss before. Granted, he respected her decision but he couldn't stop his heart breaking more and more as the seconds, which felt like hours, ticked by.

Still staring into his eyes she spoke. "Yes." She said it so low that Jace barely caught it.

Clary had more or less stopped breathing. She was about to have her first kiss. With Jace. Part of her brain told her to stop: they were friends, this whole thing could blow up in both their faces. But she couldn't help but realise how natural this felt. So she gave permission.

Jace leaned in and she met him halfway and they were kissing. Just like that. Clary's hand went to cup the side of Jace's face while his went to her waist. Jace's other hand- still on the wall- inched its way towards Clary's other hand, also on the wall, and laced their fingers together. They parted slowly and reluctantly, with a few parting pecks. Jace with his real smile, Clary smiling more than she ever had and their hands still connected, they walked slowly back to the house.

When they got to the back door, they leaned back in for another kiss knowing Clary had to go home. Their lips were millimeters apart then Izzy opened the door abruptly. **_(AN- KINDA STOLE THIS (SIMON IN COB) I COULDNT RESIST)_**

She stared for a moment then screamed. "I KNEW IT. YOU'RE WELCOME, BY THE WAY. IZZY PLAYING CUPID DOES WORK," She leaned back further into the house and yelled again. "ALEC, YOU OWE ME 5 DOLLARS."

Seeing Clary and Jace's confused looks, she said, "I bet him 5 dollars that you'd end up together and, uh." She pointed to their hands that were still clutching the other's.

Clary blushed. "Uh, yeah."

Izzy clapped her hands together excitedly, squealed then ran inside leaving Jace and Clary staring at the now closed door.

Jace turned to Clary, "Where were we?" And leaned back in.

"That was so cliché," Clary murmured against his lips. After another kiss, they pulled back and just stood there hugging.

The door opened again and Jace groaned, sounding irritated but didn't pull away from the hug. "For God's sake! What now?!"

"I came to pick Clary and Jocelyn up but clearly you're busy." Luke said.

Jace jumped away from Clary like he'd been electrocuted. "Uh.. Mr Garroway! Hi! How are you?"

Luke looked like he was trying not to laugh. "I'm good, Jace, thanks for asking. What were you two up to?"

"NOTHING." Jace looked like he was about to collapse.

"I'm going to go back inside to wait for you, Clary. Don't take too long." And he turned and walked back into the house.

Jace exhaled deeply and Clary laughed. "Oh my God, Jace. What the hell?" She clutched her stomach. "You looked like you wanted to run away."

Jace's eyes widened. "He looked like he wanted to kill me!"

Clary finished laughing and hugged around his middle. "Aw. Is Jace scared of Mr Garroway?"

"Not funny, Red." He bent his head down to kiss her. "So... Are we going to do this again?"

"I don't know, let me sleep on it." She mused.

Jace scowled. "You really think youre funny, don't you?"

"I am funny." Clary grinned. "But to answer your earlier question; yes."

Jace smiled. "This was quite a romantic thing of me to do, wasn't it?"

Clary laughed. "Jace Lightwood the romantic. Who'd have thought it?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "You can go and squeal with Izzy if you want to." Jace smirked.

It was Clary's turn to roll her eyes. "I'm not going to squeal with Izzy."

"Good, I can hog you then." Jace carried on hugging her.

**_This is pretty short because I have revision for tests AND I know how much you wanted this so, yeah_**.


	15. Jace's Thoughts

**ddiva: ah, thank you. Haha accidentally romantic Jace, you mean haha**.

**AmazingClace: they must be adorable if they put mustache-wearing puppies and kittens to shame. Haha, great minds and all that.**

**Guest: thank you, I hope so.**

**Aly Reyes: haha I tried. Yeah, ik, poor Jace aha**.

**anonMOTHAFUCKA: (the name's awesome btw) GURL, I'M TRYING TO WRITE. GIMME A BREAK.**

**_I feel like my chapters just suck ass lately and I think this one's going to be pretty short, too. The reasons being (I'm not making up excuses , I swear), I've been writing the first chapter of the BH&CP fanfic (even though I won't be uploading it until this is finished) and I keep on changing it, I have yet more tests for a couple of weeks (Maths yesterday went horrifically) and so I'm revising. To make it up, here are 1st person POVs_****!**

**_I also want to express how thankful I am of the response this fic has gotten. It's incredible. 91 reviews, 89 follows, 41 favourites and over 10 THOUSAND views. That's truly absurd. Thank you so much_**.

**JACE POV (1st person- mixing it up ayyyy)**

Izzy didn't bother me the entire night after Clary left.

I'm joking, of course, she didn't shut up.

I was lying on my bed after she went home, slowing drifting off to sleep and Izzy barged in demanded to know everything, announcing that she already knew that I had asked Clary to be my girlfriend and that Clary had agreed. Then Alec walked in, half asleep telling the both of us to keep it down ("Both? Alexander, do I look like an excitable teenage girl?") and warned me not to distract Clary on Saturday when they came around to work on the project. That caused Izzy to start ranting about how she was going to give Clary a make over for me; at that I was fully awake and alert, trying to persuade her not to ruin (I used the word ruin to Izzy- she wasn't impressed) Clary.

"BUT JACE. I could turn her into a work of art!"

Exasperated, I yelled. "SHE ALREADY IS A WORK OF ART, ISABELLE, LEAVE HER AS SHE IS." I closed my eyes and exhaled, thinking she'd be furious when I opened them again but she was just standing there grinning.

"YOU'RE BOTH SO CUTE." Then she basically _skipped_ out of the door.

I flopped back down onto the bed, knowing that I'll be seeing Clary at school tomorrow.

**(TIME SKIP- SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY. JACE POV**)

Clary was standing at her locker with Simon who was frowning at their conversation which he cut off as I approached.

I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and she jumped, squeaking a little.

I laughed and put my head in the crook of her neck. "Morning, Red."

She turned around in my arms and whacked my arm. "You made me jump."

I laughed again. "What you should have said was 'Good morning my extremely handsome boyfriend'."

She smiled and leaned up to me. "Good morning my extremely handsome boyfriend."

"Better." I leaned down to her and-

Was interrupted by her extremely annoying best friend coughing loudly. We both glared at him. Okay, I glared she just pointedly looked.

"Sorry, just had a bit of vomit rising up there. Totally unrelated to you guys."

Clary rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Si."

"Yeah, shut up, Si." Simon rolled his eyes back at her and walked off leaving us together

She looked at me. "Pleeeease play nice."

"But he's- don't look at me like that." She was pouting at me and I knew I was about to give in. "... Fine but only if you tell him as well."

She threw her arms around my neck. "Thank you." She reached up to kiss me.

"Only if you're going to react like that every time I'm nice to him, though."

She laughed as the bell rang. She started walking but I just groaned. She grabbed my hand and started pulling me with her to English. "Come in, time to learn."

I just groaned louder.

All the way through English I kept glancing at Clary and looking away when she caught me looking. Only because I knew it would annoy her.

I decided to not look away the next time she caught me staring and smirked at her when she rolled her eyes. She mouthed some choice words at me (rhyming with 'duck cough') which just made me grin at her.

Getting out of class she told me off. "That was so irritating! I couldn't even concentrate, I don't even know what the teacher was talking-" she cut herself off. "Why are you smiling like that?!" I couldn't stop- what Clary called my real smile- from creeping on my face.

"You're so cute when you're angry." I closed the small gap between us and hugged her as she forgot her anger, even though it wasn't that serious, and hugged me back.

"Isn't this cosy?" Said a sickly and familiar voice from behind me. Kaelie.


	16. I HAVE A QUESTION (AN)

**_This isn't a chapter (although I have uploaded one today) I just wanted to ask if you guys would like me to upload the first chapter of my new fanfic, Bullet Holes and Crossed Paths. I wouldn't be carrying it on until I have finished this one BUT I do want to see what you guys think of it. _****_PLEASE_****_DON'T_****_IGNORE THIS._****_ Do you want the first chapter?_**


	17. Angry

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who encouraged me to upload the first chapter of BHaCP; it's now up!**

**To everyone worried about the new fanfic taking my focus away from Bittersweet: I only intend to upload the first chapter of BHaCP. That was I won't focus on either one more. When I finish Bittersweet, I will continue BHaCP**.

**I think it's funny how people have asked to see overprotective Jace because you'll actually see that soon!**

**Jace****POV**

I sighed and turned around to face Kaelie, taking hold of Clary's hand.

"What is it, Kaelie?" I was tense, I know I was but... well, she wasn't going to be congratulating us on our relationship.

"Are you cheating on me?!"

My eyes more or less popped out of my head at that. "Cheating on you? We're not even dating. I don't think we ever were! Did we ever go on a single date?!"

Kaelie scowled then looked at Clary. "You do realise he's using you, don't you? He'll end it in front of everyone and humiliate you just like he did me-"

"Shut. Up." I rubbed my eyes with my other hand. She is so annoying, I have no idea how I put up with her.

Clary tugged at my hand. "Leave it, Jace. Let's go to our classes." We started walking off.

Kaelie laughed bitterly. "I can't wait until he gets rid of you and crawls back to me."

I turned around. "I will _never_ go back to you, Kaelie. Ever. And I am not using Clary. You know what? Don't even talk about about her, you don't even deserve to talk to her." I turned back around with my fists clenched, furious now, and carried on walking, not taking Clary's hand on the way past her in case I squeezed it too tightly.

We quickly arrived at Clary's History class and I gave Clary a quick kiss telling her not to listen to Kaelie.

I, meanwhile, headed off in the opposite direction of my class, too worked up to focus. I sat outside under the oak tree Clary and I sat under that day with thoughts whirring frantically and incessantly around in my head.

_What if Clary believed Kaelie and ended it with me because she thought I was using her? What if Clary didn't want to date me because of my past with girls? What if Clary thought I __was__ cheating on her? What if Kaelie hurt Clary?_

I shook my head trying to clear my head. It's crazy how Clary means more to me than any girl I've ever 'dated' before did. I decided that I needed to reassure her that I wouldn't hurt her. That I couldn't hurt her.

Before I knew it, I'd been sitting under the oak tree for 2 hours and the lunch bell rang. I decided to make my way to the cafeteria, knowing that Clary would be there with Simon.

I had guessed correctly and saw Clary sitting at a table with her back to me and Simon sitting opposite her, taking lettuce off his sandwiches with a frown on his face. I walked up to Clary, kissing her on the head before sitting down next to her.

She looked at me, tilting her head to the side a little. "Where were you last class?"

I had meant to make it back for Chemistry because Clary was in there. "Uh... I decided to ditch." I grabbed one of her sandwiches and took a bite.

She slapped my hand and took the sandwich back. "Why?"

I glanced at Simon who wasn't even trying to look like he wasn't listening. "Can I talk to you?"

She frowned- adorably, might I add- and then nodded. I took her hand and walked to the oak tree, where we stood. I felt nervous, for some reason. I didn't even realise I hadn't spoken.

"Jace...?" Clary waved a hand in front of my face. "Are you not going to tell me why we're here?"

I grabbed the hand that was in front of my face and used it to pull her to me. I clearly misjudged how much she weighed- pure accident, honestly- because she more or less fell against me.

If that had been any other girl, I would've spouted out some cocky joke about her literally falling for me but it was Clary. So I ended up stuttering out a lame apology. Romantic.

I didn't let go of her and she was still tight against my chest. "Are you going to tell me why we're here?"

"You don't believe Kaelie, do you? I'm not cheating on you OR using you, I promise Clary, you have to believe me. You mean a lot to me, you're a great friend to me and I don't deserve it."

"Have I just been friendzoned?"

My eyes widened as I realised what I said. "No, no. NO. I didn't mean it like that. I mean, you are a great friend I just-" I was cut off by her putting her forehead against my chest and her shoulders shaking slightly. IS SHE CRYING?

I lifted her chin so she'd look at me and found that she was crying. With laughter.

I frowned. "Oh my God, I thought I had made you cry. Wait. Why are you laughing?"

She composed herself and wiped away her tears. "Why would I be crying? Because the great Jace Lightwood just friendzoned me?" She grinned at me when I playfully glared at her. "I was laughing because 1) I do not believe Kaelie and 2) you were so awkward it was actually adorable. In a hilarious way."

I put a hand over my heart. "I was so worried that you'd think I was using you or-"

She cut me off mid-sentence with a kiss. A long kiss, I'd like to point out. One that ended in her back against the tree. "You shouldn't have worried so much." I gave her a hug and then we started walking back to the cafeteria.

"What were you guys doing? Actually, don't answer that." Simon shuddered.

"You-" I started but Clary looked at me and I stopped myself.

"Whipped!" Izzy said from behind me.

I noticed Simon blush slightly when she appeared. Simon has a crush on Izzy?! Honestly, I'd prefer him date Izzy than Jonathan- he's a dick. Speaking of Jonathan. Where was he?

"Where's Jonathan?" I decided to ask.

Izzy shrugged. "He said he needed go to his locker, like, 10 minutes ago." I honestly don't know why they date. Neither of them seem bothered. Kind of like Kaelie and I.

Izzy took a seat next to Simon. Who looked like he didn't know what to do. Suddenly, he jumped up. "I HAVE TO DO... A THING." Then without a sparing a glance at Izzy, he ran off.

Realising I hadn't had anything to eat yet other than a bite out of Clary's sandwich, I left Clary and Iz to their talking telling them I'm getting lunch.

**CLARY POV****(1st person)**

"Okay. This is boring, I'm getting food." Jace smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, get lost, Jace." Izzy smiled back. Siblings.

No more than a few seconds later, I heard shouting. Was that Simon? Izzy and I exchanged confused looks then rushed out into the corridor where Simon and Jonathan were shouting at each other. Kaelie was standing behind Jonathan.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY WOULD YOU CHEAT ON IZZY?! SHE'S MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER WANT OR DESERVE-"

I placed a hand on his shoulder; he was shaking with anger. "Si?"

He looked at me. "I just caught these two kissing." He gestured to Jonathan and Kaelie.

"WHAT THE FUCK-?" I started until I was interrupted by Izzy.

"Predictable." Izzy sounded bored. I looked at her. "I was going to split up with him anyway." She shrugged, then walked back into the canteen.

Jonathan held his hands up. "See? All good." A small crowd was gathering now. De ja vu. I was just as furious as I was the other day.

"No. NO IT'S NOT 'ALL GOOD', YOU PRICK. SIMON'S RIGHT. YOU DONT DESERVE-"

"Simon? That nerd. The only reason he's defending her is because he has a pathetic crush on her," He turned to Simon. "You could never get her, by the way."

I was so sick of people thinking it was okay to hurt Simon. So, I did the first thing that came to my head. I punched Jonathan in the face. I'm not bragging but I popped his lip.

"You bitch-"

"What the hell is going on?!" Jace had now appeared. I didn't think to tell him, in all honesty. "Did you just... Did you actually just call my girlfriend a bitch?" He push Jonathan into the lockers.

"She shouldn't have punched me!"

"Clary, why did you punch him?" He was still staring down a now terrified Jonathan and was talking in a scarily calm tone.

"Simon caught him cheating on Izzy."

Then Jace punch him. Several times. I lost count at 8. Then, I realised I should stop him.

"JACE! JACE, STOP!" He stopped mid-punch. "I don't want you getting into trouble. Come on."

He straightened telling Jonathan to go home and make sure no teachers saw him until his face cleared up.

_**JACE**__**BBY**_ **_aw_**


	18. It's Only Been A Day

**Guest: glad you liked it! A protective Jace is a good Jace.**

**YayitsCaroline: thank you!**

**JaceHerondale17: if Jace was real I would be a sobbing heap on the floor 24/7 because he'd never love me.**

**person: if that was humanly possible, I would. Unfortunately dear child, for me and for you, I am only a mere human and so 5 minute updates are, therefore, stupendously difficult.**

**Person: that means a lot, thank you.**

**ddiva: Simon is a cutie patootie.**

**RoBiNiSmYbOo: And I love you, random citizen! (Mastermind quote ayyyy)**

**Guest: thank you! Yes Kaelie is still being pranked. It's Friday in the fic and they've decided to do the prank the next week so they have time to plan (because, y'know, it's like the ultimate prank and they have to do the project on Saturday**)

**_Another short chapter because I have more revision. Boo._**

**CLARY POV (1st person)**

After Jace beat up Jonathan, I told Simon to tell the teacher for the next lesson that we were in the nurses office. I suggested to Jace that we went there to clean up his knuckles and he just turned and made his way there, staying silent the whole time.

"What happened?" The nurse asked kindly.

Jace didn't answer so I spoke up. "He got mad and punched a few lockers." She nodded, taking my word for it.

She took me aside. "Do you mind cleaning him up? I have a very sick student here."

"Uh... Sure."

As though she could read my mind she said, "Don't worry, it's not that difficult." and she gave me a first aid box explaining what I should do then smiled and left.

I stood in between Jace's legs as he was now sitting on the small bed in the room, legs slightly apart and swinging. In this position, I was a little taller than him. I cleaned up his right hand first and he didn't even flinch when I punch the antiseptic on.

Finishing up, I broke the silence. "I'm going to get to class. Give you some time alone." I sensed he needed space.

I turned but his familiar hand had an iron grip on my wrist.

"I'm sorry, Clary. Please don't be mad." His voice was almost a whisper and my heart broke by the look on his face. He really thought I was angry at him.

I walked back to him and hugged him, his forehead resting on my chest. His hands were clutched on my waist. "Jace, I'm not mad at you. Why would you think that?" I took his face between my palms and tilted his head up to look at me.  
"I beat up a guy, Clary. I cant remember the last time I beat someone up like that. And I wasn't even planning on stopping!"

"He deserved it-"

Jace was shaking his head now my hands were on his shoulder, his hands still tight around my waist. "He just made me so angry, Clary. He's always been a dick. He cheated on Iz, he said something to Simon. And you! He called you a bitch and... I just couldn't help it."

I stroked his hair trying to calm him down. I felt the tension in his shoulders go down slightly. "Don't worry so much. I'm glad you did. Kind of. I understand why you did it, is what I mean."

Jace smiled slightly. "Thank you. For not being angry... And for fixing my hands... And for standing up for Iz... And being you. Especially for being you."

I leaned down and now we were both smiling. "Trying to woo me in the nurse's office." I gave him a quick kiss.

"Well, I think we've determined by now that I'm quite the romantic." Jace smirked.

"There's the Jace I know and love so much."

Jace stilled and I realised what I had said. It's been a _day._ He's been my boyfriend for a day and I'd told him that I loved him. I didn't even mean it like that. Did I?

**JACE POV**

I froze and she ran. Did she mean that? Did I love her? A _day._ It's been a day. Stupid feelings. I needed to talk to Izzy. She'd know.

I decided not to go to the rest of the classes that day and go home to wait for Izzy.

"IZZY!" I ran over to her as soon as she got through the door, nearly knocking her over.

She looked slightly alarmed. "Jeez, Jace. At least let me get into the house. What's up?"

"Clary she at school she said and i just-"

"Jace, you're not making sense."

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. "NEITHER WOULD YOU IF YOUR GIRLFRIEND OF ONE DAY TOLD YOU SHE LOVED YOU."

"But I'm not a lesbian," Her eyes grew after what I said had sunken in. "SHE WHAT?!"

I nodded frantically. "I KNOW."

She shook her head just as enthusiastically. "Okay tell me exactly what she said."

After I'd told her the story, she started pacing. "Okay, maybe you're blowing this way out of proportion. She could have meant it as in the saying," her eyes widened and she stopped pacing, whirling around to face me. "BUT IF SHE DID SHE WOULD HAVE JUST EXPLAINED TO YOU. OH GOD, I'M JUST AS CONFUSED AS YOU ARE."

Well, great. If Izzy doesn't know, nobody knows.


	19. Malec

**Aly Reyes: ikr. Jesus, show some restraint, Red**.

**fanofanfic: Yes, she did.**

**JaceHerondale17: hahaha majorly**.

**Guest: Jace doesn't hate Simon. He wouldn't count him as a friend, though. Jace is hostile towards him and acts how he does because he doesn't know Simon; he acts like that with everyone he doesn't know. Plus, he knows Simon doesn't really approve of Clary and Jace's relationship. However, Jace appreciates Simon as Clary's best friend; he is grateful for the fact that Simon is there for Clary, without a doubt**.

**emeraldrainn: whaaaaaat? My mind is blown**.

**Guest: Uh... thanks? "the pranks are starting to get really childish"; they're high-schoolers, they're not plotting to take over the world. It's a few harmless TEENAGE pranks. "Jace and Simon are a bit OOC." I am aware of that- Jace is meant to be. I can't help but feel that in the books, one of the main reasons that Jace is so wise is because of his childhood. Along with much of his other behaviour. Jace was obviously not born a Shadowhunter in this. Therefore, he was not trained relentlessly by his father. I believe that that training, that time he spent with his father, was a contributing factor to much of the behaviour/traits he has in the books and so he will clearly not have those in this fic. He is just a teenager. As for Simon, I don't think that Simon is that OOC? If you're referring to the Jonathan incident, I like to think that the Simon in the books would do that- or something similar- when it came to those he cared about being hurt. Other than that, thank you.**

**_My apologies if that seemed slightly out of order. I'm not bitter(sweet ha ha ha I'm funny), I don't mind when people criticise my work but only if they have things to say to improve. Moving on._****..**

**_First bit of a certain ship's (OTP OTP OTP) interaction_**.

Neither Clary nor Jace slept a wink last night. Both thinking about going to the other on Saturday when they saw each other at the Lightwoods'.

**ALEC POV (mixin' it up ayyyy bet u didnt expect that)**

"IZZY! JACE! GET YOUR BACKSIDES UP! THE GUYS WILL BE HERE FOR THE PROJECTS SOON." I yelled for what seemed like the hundredth time. Izzy yelled something back about make up (telling me to shut up as well) and Jace yelled a few profanities. Joy.

The doorbell rang, then, and I sighed. It was 10:57. I hoped it was Clary so I could get her away from Jace and do the project as soon as possible. I opened the door and, well, I can tell you it definitely wasn't Clary.

"Alexander." Said the tall, handsome figure leaning against the doorframe. Even doing that he looked elegant.

"M-Magnus." I can honestly say that I had never been this close to him before. He was beautiful. Even more so up close. His freshly applied make up was smudge-free (Izzy would be jealous), his hair stuck up in dangerous looking, dark spikes and his tan skin looked smooth. And his eyes. His eyes. They were like a cat's. Gleaming in the midday sun. His mouth was moving but I didn't even realise he was speaking. I decided that I should probably listen.

"-going to let me in or continue to stare at me? I don't mind either." He shrugged softly with the shoulder that wasn't against the doorframe.

I felt myself heat up in a blush. Embarrassing. "Oh, uh, yeah," I stepped aside "Come in. Why are you here so early? Not that i-it's bad that you're early. Punctual is good!" I laughed, nervously. Magnus brushed against me as he passed and I couldn't stop the shudder, hoping Magnus didn't notice. Even more embarrassment.

"I'm early? I thought your sister told me 11." Something in his eyes told me that he knew she said 12.

Magnus stood in the centre of the living room waiting for me to make the next move, I think, and so I sat down on the sofa and Magnus moved to sit next to me, for some reason.

"This is nice." Magnus said, suddenly.

"All we're doing is sitting." I eyed Magnus curiously.

Magnus chuckled. It was a nice sound, I decided. "Oh, Alexander."

I frowned. I really don't understand him. "Why do you call me Alexander?"

"That is your name, is it not?" He spoke the way no other teenager does nowadays, I realised. I liked it, though, along with his accent. It fitted.

"Yes but everyone calls me Alec." I was still frowning.

"In my opinion, Alexander is a beautiful name and so I shall continue calling you by it... Don't frown so much, darling, you'll get wrinkles." He touched my forehead lightly with the tip of his finger. I jumped at his touch which made him draw his hand away slowly.

"I didn't even know you knew my name." I said cautiously and almost to myself.

"How could I not find out the name of such a beauty? Blue eyes and black hair are my favourite combination, you know." He winked. He actually winked. At _me._ Alexander Gideon Lightwood.

I was now 100% sure that I was blushing up a storm, right now. All I could say was "Oh."

Magnus smiled beautifully and softly. After a few moments he spoke again. "Your sister. She is quite a card. Especially when it comes to sharing things about you with me."

My head whipped to look at Magnus instead of my hands. "Me? She talks about me? To you?"

"Is that a problem?"

_Kinda._ "What does she say?"

"She told me that you "liked" me." He put his fingers up to air quote "liked".

My eyes bulged. I felt so angry, embarrassed, nervous, just so many things. Yet, the first thing to say was about my sexuality. "I d-don't. I c-can't."

Magnus looked slightly hurt and confused. "And why, pray tell, is that?"

If I wasn't bright red before, I was now. "Because b-because because you're a GUY."

Magnus' eyes softened as he looked into my eyes and his voice lowered. "Alexander. Is Isabelle the only one who knows that you're gay?"

I hesitated. He could tell everyone. I don't want that, my own parents don't even know. I nodded.

Magnus looked at me sympathetically. "Not even your parents? Your other siblings?"

I shook my head, not trusting my voice not to waver. Then Magnus did something completely unexpected. He hugged me. And it wasn't just an awkward we're-barely-friends-so-here-is-a-one-arm-side-hug. He flung his arms around my neck and my head was buried in his shoulder as I instinctively hugged him tightly around the waist.

After a minute he pulled back, and I really did miss the contact. His hand covered mine on the sofa and his thumb rubbed the back of it. I know it was completely for comforting purposes but I couldn't stop my pulse from jumping.

"How do you do it?" My voice was nearly a whisper.

"Do what?"

"Be so confident. So happy with your sexuality." I shook my head, baffled.

"Dear Alexander, you have to remember that being gay is not something to be ashamed or embarrassed about. Anyone who says otherwise are delusional. You cannot change or control your sexuality. It is not a disease, you cannot be cured of it. You have to accept it and remember that if you don't, you may never meet that someone who is your soul mate. And if you do but you're reluctant to come out, or they think you're straight, there's a good chance that you won't end up with them. It is a part of you and the sooner you accept it- although it may take time- the easier things will be and the happier you will be." Magnus said it with such clarity and I realised that I needed to tell my parents. When, though, I wasn't sure.

"Thank you." I couldn't think of much else to say. In reply, Magnus just put his arm around my shoulders. Without a second thought, I rested my head against his shoulder. Magnus glanced down at me with a wary and confused look on his face but after a second, he gave in and rested his head on mine. For the first time, I felt comfortable in my sexuality.

**IZZY POV**

I made my way downstairs 15 minutes after Alec answered the door, only to find him and Magnus looking rather cosy. I smiled to myself. They were good for eachother. I really hoped they would get together.

I cleared by throat and Alec jumped up looking pale. I didnt miss Magnus' hurt expression even though Alec did. Alec relaxed slightly when saw it was me. "Izzy, I thought you were Jace."

I ignored his very insulting comment. "So are you two-"

"NO. Uh, no." Alec glanced nervously at Magnus.

I frowned. "What? Goddamn it." Am I going to have to play cupid again like I did with Clary and Jace.

The doorbell rang again and Alec, looking relieved, went to answer it. After a few seconds, Clary and Simon walked in.

Seeing Clary, I gasped. "Clary, you look terrible!" She looked like she hadn't slept.

"Gee, thanks Izzy. That's the look I was going for."

I narrowed my eyes. "Less of the sarcasm." She shrugged.

"Jace is in his room. I think you two should speak." She lifted her head to look at me. "He's in his room. Please, Clary. I know he didn't sleep either, I heard him wandering about."

She looked unsure then nodded and headed up the stairs. I sighed and hoped she could sort this.

**CLARY POV**

Jace had looked shocked to see me at first then silently gestured for me to go in.

I took a deep breath. "I needed to talk to you about what I said... you know. I didn't mean it like that, I really didn't. I know we've only been dating, like, two days. And even though I do have strong feelings for you, care about you and need you, I'm not ready to say that yet."

Jace exhaled deeply. "Come here."

I walked over and he hugged me tighly. "I understand. Why didnt you explain this?"

"Well, I just said it as a casual phrase and then you froze up so I assumed I did the wrong thing "

"I don't think you ever could."

"Soppy."

"You make me this way, Red. Don't go all judgemental on me."

I laughed as he walked us over to his bed and we sat against the headboard. His legs were bent and raised to his chest slightly and my legs were over his. My head was on his chest and his arm was around my waist, his other hand in both of mine. It felt so good to sort things out. "How are you?"

Jace knew I wasn't asking that as a casual question. "I'm better. I felt a wreck yesterday."

I snuggled deeper into his chest. "Things will turn out fine. Lets move on from it."

"Definitely."

_**Th**_**_e next few chapters will be on just the day they do the project. Lot of detail_****.**


	20. Feelings

**YayitsCaroline: hooray for details. We know how much i love Malec heh.**

**runemagic: thank you**

**Liss3100: Thank you so much, I needed to hear that.**

**Aly Reyes: hehehe...**

**emeraldrainn: haha sure**

**Guest: that's really sweet! Thank you so much**

**SIMON POV**

After Clary went to Jace's room Alec sighed. "Iz, I didn't want her to get distracted by Jace!"

Izzy shrugged elegantly and rolled her pretty eyes. "I don't want either of them moping around today, Alec. Besides, she won't be long."

Alec rolled his eyes, a gesture that I think he'd gotten off his sister. "Whatever," he turned to the ever sparkly Magnus who currently looked like the child of a tub of glitter and a rainbow. "Do you want something to drink, Magnus?"

Magnus glanced at me, then Izzy (who was inspecting her nails), then back to me and smirked. Weird. "That would be lovely."

"Let's see what there is in the kitchen." Alec walked out with Magnus following.

I sank back into the armchair, awkwardly, waiting for Jace

"Simon?" I looked at Izzy and she was already looking at me. Even if she was looking at me like she had only just realised I was there at all.

"Yeah?" Surprisingly, my voice came out normal.

"I wanted to thank you. You know, for yelling at Jonathan like that."

I frowned, not expecting that. I mean, I dont know what I was expecting but it wasn't gratitude. "Um.. Y-you're welcome?"

Izzy smiled slightly and shrugged.

"You don't deserve to be treated like that."

She shrugged again.

"Are you going to talk?" I dont know where this confidence came from.

She looked at me, taking at seat on the side of the sofa closest to me. She smiled a little, waited a second then shrugged again. I got the impression that she didn't want to talk- which stung a bit, i have to say- so I shut up.

"I never noticed how nice your eyes are." Okay, I definitely was not expecting her to say that.

"Uh..." I cleared my throat. "Well, um, you've never paid attention to me before." Then I chuckled and it was the single most awkward sounding thing I have ever done. And that's very awkward.

Izzy smiled, though it seemed a little sad and looked at me thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess I haven't."

I never thought I'd say this, but when Jace approached me, I was very happy.

"Okay, let's get this done." Jace sighed dramatically. Jerk.

"Wow, who'd have thought it? The great Jace Wayland actually does homework!"

"Behave. Both of you." Clary spoke up, shaking her head. Alec came back in and took Clary to his room and Izzy took Magnus to his.

Curiousity got the better of me. "Why aren't we going to your room?"

Jace scoffed. "I knew it; I wondered why you were staring at Magnus like that. You just want to get me in bed. Clary won't be happy when I tell her you tried to make a move on me-"

I scowled. "You're hilarious."

"I'd say 'I try' but I don't; my great humour and wit just comes naturally."

"Along with idiocy." I muttered.

"Now, now. You heard Clary."

"Hiding behind your girlfriend, very noble of you."

"Probably because she could would kick your ass. And she could."

I shook my head. He's extremely annoying. "We'd better get on with this before I lose my patience."

"Yeah, well, I'm losing brain cells just talking to you but I'm not complaining." Jace picked up his biology book.

Both of our phones buzzed then. Mine was a text from Clary. I can hear you both arguing from up here. Both of you shut up and grow up before I kick both of your asses.

I looked at Jace the same time that he looked up at me and by the look on his face, I knew he received the same text.

**CLARY POV**

I sighed as I put my phone down after texting the idiots downstairs. I looked Alec. "Sorry about that, they just really needed telling."

He smiled and waved off my apology. "It's fine. In fact, I agree."

"So... Uh. If you don't mind me asking; are you and Magnus dating?"

Alec stuttered and blushed furiously. Oh god, I thought they were. Now I feel bad. He was breathing a bit heavier now. "I-I um. We're not- I'm not... He's a guy!"

I was confused at this. "Yeah...? And?"

"So am I!"

"Yeah...? Gay guys are attracted to other guys."

Alec's eyes bulged and he looked like he was about to cry. "I'm not-" he cut himself off after realising he was shouting. "I'm not gay."

I frowned. "Uhhh..."

"Did Izzy say that?!"

"No. I just... guessed."

"Did you say anything to anyone?!"

"No." I was currently getting mixed messages.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"You are gay. Aren't you?"

He hesitated then nodded. "No one knows. Other than Magnus and Izzy. Please don't tell anyone, I'm begging here."

"Alec, hey, calm down. I won't I swear."

He relaxed slightly. "Thanks."

I smiled slightly. "So you and Magnus?"

He blushed. "We're not dating."

"But...?"

"I really like him." He was grinning uncontrollably and I wondered if that was what I looked like when I talked about Jace.

"Does he like you?"

He looked down and shrugged, his grin gone. "I don't think so. We spoke before you came in and he called me beautiful," his smile came back and I couldn't help but smile with him. "He told me that I shouldn't be embarrassed about my sexuality and hugged me. But I think he's like that with everyone. It's how he is."

"Sounds to me like he does like you."

"Really?"

I grinned. "Really."

**MAGNUS POV (i was going to make this Izzy's but ah well)**

I followed Isabelle into her room thinking about the blue eyed boy that had just gone to his room.

"You're thinking about Alec, aren't you?" She sat on her pink bed as I situated myself on a comfortable chair in the corner of the room.

"Either I'm not good at hiding my feelings or you are very good at reading people."

"I'm good at reading people but you're terrible at hiding your feelings for him."

"Yes," I sighed. "For him. I have no problem with anyone else." I tugged at one of my spikes in my hair; a nervous habit of mine. "He's a very difficult character."

"It's hard for him."

I nodded. "I know that, Isabelle. I wish I could walk away but I can't seem to. The boy has me wrapped around his little finger and he doesn't even realise." I chuckled humourlessly. If only he knew.

"I think you should tell him."

"I wouldn't want to overwhelm him. He's only just dealing with the fact that I know he's gay."

Isabelle raised one perfect eyebrow. "He knows you know he's gay?"

"Yes."

"Oh... How did that go down?"

"He tried to deny it, then confirmed it. I hugged him and told him it was nothing to be ashamed of. Poor child."

"Child? He's older than you- Wait. You hugged?!"

"Yes, Isabelle-" That caused her to interrupt me with a squeal.

"Isabelle, dear, do try to keep it down otherwise you'll be attracting dogs. Human ears can only withstand so much noise without the ear drum bursting."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry BUT THAT IS ADORABLE." She was jumping up and down on her bed now. Alec and her were so different it was almost laughable.

I smiled to myself. "He is, isn't he?"

**hey guys! I just wanted to know how you think I handled writing Magnus. I'm unsure**.


	21. Sizzy Talk

**xoxocmo: thank you! I didn't know whether Magnus' POV was any good. I'm glad you like him! I'm glad I got your backing in the whole OOC debate, too, haha. Thanks.**

**charchar: thank you**

**YayitsCaroline: I'm happy you feel so strongly about it ahaha**

**Liss3100: thank you! That's reassuring**.

**_Hey guys, I don't think there will be many more chapters to this (like, less than 6 maybe?). It's not a hugely dramatic fanfic so there won't be some huge plot twist like Jace cheats or Clary ends up pregnant; what happens after the fic is left to your imagination! Just thought I'd let you know._**

Magnus POV (still)

"So," I said rummaging through Isabelle's collection of nail polish. She doesn't have nearly enough glitter polish in here. "what's going on with you and the geek?"

"Simon?" She said almost immediately, I stifled a laugh and turned around. She shook her head. "Nothing. I barely know him."

"Yes, dear. I noticed. It's rather unfortunate." I turned back around and picked up a black out of her collection.

"What is?"

I tried to think of an easy way to say it then realised she would deny it whichever way I put it. "You and Simon. It's as though you're both acting like you can't date because of this silly misconception of social status. Think of it as a Beauty and The Geek type of thing." I shook the black nail polish intending to apply a layer of my own black nails- one was slightly chipped at the top which would never do.

"Beauty and The Geek?" I could imagine her shaking her pretty little head, her dark locks shaking with the movement. "I don't think so, Magnus-"

"Of course you don't. Not yet anyway." I placed the nail polish back into its rightful place since I had put a fresh coat over my chipped polish. Wafting my hand, trying to dry the polish, I made my way over to stand in front of Isabelle. "Come along. Let's start the project."

(4 hours later)  
SIMON POV

I closed my Biology book and stretched my arms upwards. "Praise. The. Lord."

"I thought that would never end." Jace added cracking his back as I nodded in agreement.

We sat in awkward silence not knowing what to do next.

I pulled out his phone to text Clary asking whether she had done with the assignment when I was interrupted by Jace.

"Clary said that she and Alec have been finished with the assignment for 30 minutes and that she is getting tired of waiting." I looked up and Jace had a smile on his face that- surprisingly- wasn't a smirk as he looked at his phone screen.

I frowned. He really liked Clary. She wasn't just some game or another one of his conquests. I let out a little laugh.

Jace looked up after a second. "What?"

"It's just," I shook my head a little. "I never thought that I would see the day where Jace Wayland was completely and utterly invested in one girl. And you're falling hard. It's quite amusing."

I thought he would scowl or come out with a sarcastic comment. He didn't. "I'm in deep with her, Rat Boy, and she doesn't even realise how far in I am." Rat Boy. New one. "God, she's got me and I don't think there's any way I'm getting out."

I raised my eyebrows. "You've got it bad."

He nodded as she and Alec walked down the stairs laughing. "Look at her," he murmured so she wouldn't hear. Or anyone but himself would, I'm not sure. "I don't know how I lived without her." He ran a hand through his hair.

Clary sat next to him and he pulled her onto his lap. I was glad she was so happy.

JACE POV

I don't know why I told Simon that. I suppose I just felt like letting everyone know how I felt about Clary. As she sat down, I pulled her onto my lap and she snuggled into my chest, smiling. She looked up and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing." There really wasn't, I didnt know why she asked. "Why?"

She scrunched her nose up adorably and said "When I walked towards you, you ran your fingers through you hair. You usually only do that when you're annoyed or anxious."

I kissed her still scrunched up nose and replied. "I was just talking to Simon about you."

"And that annoyed you?"

I smiled. "No, no. I just realised how much you mean to me and how you didn't even realise."

She shook her head and rested it on my chest. "I think I do."

"You're so cute." I chuckled- not even meaning to say it out loud- and she hummed. "Are you tired?"

"A little." Then, as if right on queue, yawned.

"That yawn says more than a little. Come on, Red. Sleep until Magnus and Izzy come down." She just nodded and drifted into sleep on my chest while I was stroking her hair.

"Wow." Simon spoke up again and I knew he was talking about Clary and me.

"You can't say much, you're the same with Izzy."

"Yeah, but my feelings are one-sided, I can only like her to a certain extent." I thought he would have winced or blushed but he just carried on like he was used to being let down by that. I almost felt sorry for him.

_**Another short (but pretty adorable tbh) chapter! What did you** **guys think?**_


	22. Another First Kiss

**JaceHerondale17: haha he's pretty cute**

**Tonsoffandoms: yeah, sorry! Like I said, there won't be some huge plot twist or anything. It's a fanfic on the beginning (kinda) of Clary and Jace's relationship.**

**ClaceAndPeenis4eva: I enjoyed writing it! It's my first real fanfic, I'll miss it. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter of BHaCP! Thank you.**

**xoxomco: JAMIE IS JACE! I love Jamie so that made me so happy, thank you! Also, I'm very grateful for that support.**

**xojessica36: Aw for protective Simon.**

** from Ravenclaw: haha don't worry, it never gets old.**

**PsychicPunch: yeah, I've noticed that in fanfics. I'm glad you like the humour, haha. I agree, Max is very cute.**

**Queen Daenerys Targaryen: hey, welcome back! Haha. Ah, that's unfortunate. As for a sequel, I'm not sure. If I was, I would probably have to have a main event happen and I wouldn't really want it to be some big thing where they split up and years later just happen to meet again. I don't like sad Clace; if I did one (BIG if) then it'd be about them coping with married life and children or something. I like to think that Simon and Jace get along for Clary- she's one thing they have in common. It's okay, I have, like, 500 otps hahaha. Sizzy? ...Soon! Be patient. Aw I'm glad. I'm trying to go as quick as I can tbh haha. Thank you. (PS- thought I'd let you know you know that, because you have reviewed so many times, when I type 'Queen' the suggestion for the next word is 'Daenerys' haha)**

_**ANYWAY, onto the next chapter**_.

JACE POV

"GET UP, CLARY, WE'RE GOING TO-"

"ISABELLE! STOP SHOUTING SHE'S ASLEEP!" I yelled back pointing at the sleeping beauty on my chest. "Do you have no respect-?"

"Bit hypocritical, don't you think?" Said a sleep-ridden voice from my lao. I looked down and Clary was rubbing her eyes having just woken up. "You were yelling in my ear."

"Oh. Sorry."

Clary sighed and smirked at me which caused me to smirk back. I'm rubbing off on her. "So," Clary said after breaking our eye contact. "what were you saying, Izzy?"

"Before I was rudely interrupted," she glared at me and I chuckled "I was saying that we're going to Taki's!"

"That means get your petite behind up, deary." Magnus said from the armchair.

"I'm awake now, jeez." She snuggled back into my chest and I instinctively ran my fingers through her hair.

"Stop right there, love birds, before you get ahead of yourself," Izzy moved to stand in front of us with her hands on her hips. "Up."

**CLARY****POV**

10 minutes later and we were walking to Taki's ("Why drive?! It's just down the road, we're doing the planet a favour." Alec had said.)

"Clary, come here a sec." Izzy gestured for me to walk behind the rest of the group. Jace looked at me and I shrugged then joined her.

"What is it?"

"The booths at Taki's are for four people only. There's six of us-"

"Oh," Clary waved off Izzy's concern with her hand. "that's no problem, Jace and I-"

"No, no, no. You and Jace will sit with me and Simon, Magnus and Alec will sit in another booth or table. Don't ask why-"

"I know why, Izzy."

Izzy looked confused. "You do?"

Even though we were quite far away from the group, I lowered my voice. "I know Alec is gay. And I know something is between him and Magnus. I'm in on the plan."

Izzy grinned. "Aren't they a great couple?! Anyway, are you in?"

Claret nodded. "Of course." Then walked back to Jace.

Entering the restaurant, I headed for the nearest booth, hand-in-hand with Jace and Izzy, dragged Simon into the other side giving me a knowing look.

"Uh, guys?" Alec was looking at us frowning. "The booths are for four people."

Izzy spoke up. "Ah, yeah. You'll have to sit with Magnus somewhere."

Alec blushed and looked at Magnus behind him who wiggled his fingers in a mock wave.

"Isabelle!" Alec hissed. "Why cant Clary and Jace-"

"Because Clary is comfortable." I said. When Alec was giving Izzy pleading eyes, I caught Magnus's eye and signalled with a discreet head gesture that he should take Alec.

Magnus's cat eyes sparkled, as if realising our plan. "Come along, Alexander. We may as well sit elsewhere." He sighed dramatically yet still quite convincingly.

Alec froze for a few seconds then nodded and let Magnus drag him away.

**ALEC POV (malecccccc- I absolutely adore writing Malec eek)**

I put my head in my hands. What was Izzy playing at?

"Are you okay, handsome?" I looked up and Magnus was looking at me with some concern.

We were tucked away into a dark corner out of sight of our friends' table and, well, everyone since today was a 'slow day'. Magnus had a word at the counter and got us this spot that you usually needed a reservation for. He had said that he "had history" with a guy here. Had history? He was a teenager, how much history does a teenager have?!

I tried a smile, though it felt forced. "I'm fine."

Magnus smiled. "You didn't stutter."

I was confused and said as much.

"You were stuttering an awful lot earlier, when we were talking. You're not now." Magnus was still smiling. He was beautiful.

I shrugged nonchalantly even though my heart was beating fast. "I suppose it's... easier now after our talk."

Magnus brought a hand up and traced my jaw lightly which made my heart miss a beat. "I'm glad." Magnus drew his hand away slowly and began to scan his menu. "Now. What would you like to eat?"

I shook my head. "Not hungry."

He looked up from his menu. "Then why did you agree to come here?"

Because you were coming. I shrugged. "Izzy, asked me to. You were all going so I did too."

"I wouldn't have gone if you didn't, you know." Magnus said softly.

I looked down, not wanting Magnus to see my blush.

I think he saw it because he chuckled. "Do you want to leave? There's no point being here if we don't want to be."

I looked up to check whether he was serious and, judging by the sincere look on his face, he was.

I don't know why but I nodded and Magnus led me out of the back door.

Walking outside, I had an urge to grab Magnus's hand. I couldn't, though, for many reasons.

"M-Magnus. Uh, I don't mean this i-in a, you know, uh weird way-"

"Alexander, you're stuttering again."

I nodded fiercely.

"I know, I know, Magnus." I exhaled. "I just thought maybe we could go to your place?" I wished I could be as confident as Jace, in that moment.

"My, my Alexander. I seem to have corrupted your innocent mind already." Magnus sounded amused.

I frowned. "It doesn't matter." I muttered and quickened my pace, embarrassed.

"Alexander, wait!" I didnt even slow down so Magnus jogged go keep up. "Ale-... Here."

I was tugged by Magnus into a nearby alleyway. Even in the afternoon sun it was dark. "Magnus, I said nevermind just... let me go." I struggled against his grip but surprisingly he was quite strong.

"I was joking. I am aware that my sense of humour can be somewhat out of place and I apologise. Why did you want to go to my place?"

I shrugged. He didn't even have feeings for me. I couldn't tell him.

"Alexander. It's just you and I here. Don't be afraid."

"It's you I'm afraid of." I said louder.

Magnus's face changed into many different emotions before settling into a hurt one.

"What...? Why would you? Why-?"

"No, I'm not afraid of you just... of what I feel for you."

Magnus's eyes softened as did his features. His hand slipped down to hold mine. "Come on, we'll walk back to yours and pick up my car so we can go to mine." He let go of my hand when we left the alleyway, which I was grateful for.

When we got to Magnus's house, it was everything I had expected and more. Bright yellow walls in the living room, an electric blue two seated sofa with matching armchair and different coloured furniture dotted around the place.

I sat gingerly on the edge of the sofa while Magnus sat next to me and lounged comfortably. He pulled a furry cat onto his lap and after a few seconds it crawled onto mine.

Magnus smiled brightly. "He likes you! That's great!"

I stroked the cats neck and it purred, rubbing itself into my chest.

Magnus's expression changed to one I've never seen on him. "That's enough, Chairman. Give the boy space." He picked his cat up and dropped him on the floor.

"Chairman?"

Magnus nodded. "His full name is Chairman Meow."

I laughed, amused by the whole thing.

"Now, Alexander. What were we saying earlier? Ah, you said- and I quote- "I'm not afraid of you just of what I feel for you"."

"Uh.. Yeah." I said lamely, blushing like mad, I'm sure. Magnus gestured with his hand for me to continue.

I decided to just come out with it. Like a band aid, right? But I couldn't look him in the eye so I looked at the floor. "It's... It's hard Magnus. I feel so conflicted. I just want to tell you how I feel and be able to say that I'm okay with that but I'm not. I'm not okay with the fact that I dislike being gay, I'm not okay with the fact that I can't freely say that I have feelings for you and I'm not okay with the fact that you dont even feel the same way."

Magnus was silent for a moment then nodded solemnly. "Okay. From what I can gather we have three main problems here," he stuck up three fingers. "1 You can't freely express your homosexual feelings," his index finger went down and my blush went up "2 You believe that I don't have feelings for you," another finger went down, "and 3 You dislike being gay. I can solve those for you."

I looked up at him, finally, only to see a tender look on his face. His eyes pleasing with me to accept his help. "You could?"

Magnus nodded again. He repositioned himself so he was sitting facing me. One leg was tucked underneath him and the other dangling off the edge of the sofa. I sat normally so my back rested on the back of the sofa.

"You already solved the first problem. You said you can't talk about your feelings for me. You did. Whilst saying that you couldn't, you did."

"Yeah... I did." Oh God, I _did._ Now he knows, as if it wasn't obvious enough.

"The second problem: You don't think that I have feelings for you." Magnus chuckled, much to my surprise. "Silly boy. I thought I was being blatant, my flirting skills must be rusty."

"W-What?" I was dumbfounded. Was he really saying what I think he was?

"I, Magnus Bane, have feelings for you, Alexander Gideon Lightwood. Yes?"

"Seriously?"

Magnus looked exasperated. "Listen, darling. I have feelings for you. I do. Accept it." I nodded and felt a strange urge to squeal and run to Izzy. "Problem three was disliking being gay. That one is both trickier and easier." Magnus cleared his throat. "I believe that you could solved this by being around people who make you realise that it is okay to be gay. That it is good to be gay. Someone such as, yours truly."

"Most of my family dont even know I'm gay."

"The key term in there was 'yours truly'. Alexander, I genuinely believe that if you let me in, I could help you with that problem." Magnus was whispering by now and I hadn't realised before but he was closer now.

"Let me help you, Alec."

He called me Alec. He said- well whispered- Alec. He was so close. I had no idea what to do so I just nodded.

Magnus leaned forward and his lips were light against mine, hesitant in case I wanted to back out but I didn't want that. I wanted this, I wanted Magnus. So, in a turn of events, I ended up being the one kissing the hardest. That was until, Magnus smiled slightly and responded just as I had.

_**THIS CHAPTER IS OVER 2K WORDS LONG. WOAH. I think I get a little bit too into Malec ha**_


	23. Yet Another

**JaceHerondale17: indeed haha**

**Faytherwafers: I'M NOT LISTENING LALALALA MAX IS STILL ALIVE AND HAPPY LALALALA**

_**Ooh another chapter already! I'm about to write the final chapter (bc im prepared)! Ah, sad sad sad.**_

General POV

Since it was a Saturday and there was no school tomorrow, Clary's mother and Luke allowed her to stay over the Lightwoods'. Simon called his mother and also got permission to stay over.

Jace and Clary were laying in bed together and talking, her tracing patterns on his bare chest and Jace running his fingertips lightly up and down Clary's upper arm.

"Alec acts really strangely around Magnus. Have you noticed?" Jace said quietly, careful not wake the others.

Clary stopped tracing the patterns for a second, then continued. "Mmmm. Kinda." Clary hated lying to Jace but she couldn't betray Alec's trust.

"Wonder why it is."

"Maybe you should ask him."

Jace sighed. "I don't know."

"Don't worry about it."

"Hmmm... Maybe you could distract me."

Clary laughed softly and looked at Jace. "If you're lucky."

Jace smirked. "And am I?"

Clary shrugged innocently. "Maybe."

"Come here, Red."

Jace leaned down and-

Was interrupted by a bang in the hall followed by someone saying "fuck, ow."

Jace closed his eyes and muttered, "cock block." He opened them again, looking at Clary. "Stay here. I'll go look, okay?"

Clary shook her head. "Jace-"

"Clary. Just stay here. For me."

If the person couldn't be wise enough to avoid furniture, they couldn't be that dangerous, Clary reasoned. "Please be careful."

Jace kissed her forehead. "Of course."

Jace opened the door quietly to the hallway and found Alec. He shut it behind him and sighed in relief.

"Alec!" He hissed and Alec gasped and jumped. When he turned around and realised it was Jace, he placed a hand over his heart.

"What the hell, Jace?!"

"I could say the same thing to you! It's 2am!"

"I, uh, well-"

"Why is your hair messy? Is that..." He stopped closer and squinted. "Is that glitter?"

"No, NO. W-Why would I..." he trailed off. "What's with all the questions?!"

Jace held his hands up. "Woah, calm down."

Alec closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose. Wiping his palms on his jeans he exhaled. "Jace, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Jace said, growing more concerned at Alec's expression.

"When I tell you, you have to let me go to my room and not follow me or anything. Just... if you have questions or want to talk, we'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Uh... Sure, yeah, okay."

"I... Jace. I'm gay. And I was with Magnus." Then he ran quickly to his room without Jace following him.

Jace entered his room silently and lay back down on the bed next to Clary without uttering a word.

"Jace?"

"It was Alec. He just.. Told me he was gay."

"Oh."

"... Did you know?"

"I guessed. Are you mad I didnt tell you?" Clary looked up at him.

He didn't do anything for a second then shook his head. "No but why didn't you?"

"He didn't want me to and I respected that."

Jace smiled at that. "Well, that's okay then."

Clary smiled back and snuggled into his side. "Come on now. Sleep."

Jace yawned and nodded. "Oh, and Clary?"

"Hm?"

"You really want Magnus and Alec together, dont you?"

Clary chuckled and that was all the confirmation Jace needed.

* * *

"Izzy just catch it in your mouth!"

"Jace. Seriously, get away from me."

Jace was throwing popcorn at Izzy from across the room and telling her to catch it in her mouth.

"God, you're such a killjoy!" At that moment, Alec walked downstairs. "ALEC! GO LONG!" He threw one and Alec automatically caught it. "See, Isabelle? That is how you do it."

"Boys." Izzy sighed and went back to reading her magazine.

Alec seemed to be eyeing Jace warily and Clary, who was sitting beside Jace picked up on it.

She leaned to Jace and whispered in his ear. "Go talk to Alec."

"Why? There's nothing wrong."

"I know but I don't think Alec does." Jace nodded at that and gave Clary a quick kiss before asking to talk to Alec upstairs.

CLARY POV

As soon as Alec and Jace walked out, Isabelle came and sat next to me.

"Tell me about Simon."

"Uhhh... Why?"

Izzy shrugged gently. "I just want to know. Personality."

"Okay? Well, he's super sweet, he's funny- even though some of his humour is references to anime or games or general 'nerd' things. He tends to know when you're upset or angry and, even though he's pretty bad with advice sometimes, he can still manage to make you smile."

Izzy was looking thoughtful now. "Okay."

I think I caught on to why she was asking. "He would never doing anything to hurt you purposefully, if that's what you're asking, Izzy."

That made her smile widely.

"God, I need food." Simon interrupted with a groan.

"Good Morning to you, too, Si." I laughed.

He slumped down next to Izzy. "How come I'm still tired after like 9 hours of sleep?" He was rubbing his eyes.

Izzy stifled a laugh. "Simon, uh, your hair."

Simon still seemed half asleep, "What?"

She reached up and tried to tame his wild bed hair. After a few seconds Clary got up and went into the kitchen for some cereal for Simon.

IZZY POV

I didn't notice Clary leave. Or much else other than Simon staring into my eyes. I was feeling something for this brown-eyed, awkward, geeky boy.

I also noticed that he had a slight blush on his cheeks as his eyes flickered down to my lips and they automatically parted. I leaned in and he did too. And when we kissed, my hands still in his messy hair, I knew I wasn't letting him go.


	24. 10 Things

**_(I'm currently writing this on the bus omfg)_**

_**THIS IS **__**NOT**__** THE FINAL CHAPTER. DON'T WORRY.**_

** SuShadowhunter from Ravenclaw: I know! I love them together.**

**Queen Daenerys Targaryen: They've all shared moment/moments now, yay! I'm so glad to hear that. Aw! Well, I'll continue writing (the new fanfic; BHaCP) if you like my writing and not just the story haha. SPOILER: The beginning of this chapter is the talk, so you'll find out. As for the sequel thing; if I got enough requests I might do (probably after BHaCP because a lot of people seem desperate for that haha). I've loved writing it for all of you.**

**Person: I am rather fond of Malec, if you havent already guessed haha.**

**Liss3100: Unfortunately, dear reader, yes.**

**eva: ah, glad you think so.**

** AnonymousBooks: Ah, when you put it like that I feel bad for nearing an end!**

**GENERAL POV**

"So..." Alec tried to start a conversation but failed.

"Listen, Alec. I just wanted you to know that I don't care about you being gay. I mean, I care but I don't mind. You didn't have to keep it from me this long. I kind of... had an inkling but I wasn't sure, you know."

Alec sighed with relief. "You have no idea how good it is to hear that... I still have to tell mom and dad though."

"Would you like me to come with you when you tell them?"

"That'd be great."

Jace gave Alec a brotherly pat on the shoulder and they made their way downstairs in a comfortable silence.  
Jace and Alec walked downstairs to find Izzy and Simon leaning into each other and holding hands.

Alec frowned, "wha-?"

Clary speed walked in an grabbed both Jace and Alec's arms and dragged them into the kitchen.

Clary pointed at Alec. "You will not ruin this for Simon, Alec! Or Izzy." she hissed. Jace opened his mouth to speak and she pointed at him too. "And neither with you! Yes?"

Jace and Alec both murmured a 'yes' looking to the floor like scolded children.

A vibration could be heard in the silence of the kitchen and Alec took his phone out of his pocket. He blushed, smiled at the phone, tapped out a reply then walked out of the front door announcing that he was going out.

**ALEC POV**

_Do you want to come over to my place, beautiful? I'll make it worthwhile..._ That was the text I got from Magnus whilst in the kitchen with Clary and Jace.

_I'm heading over now_ I texted back before leaving the house in a speed walk.

_I'll be waiting._

* * *

"Why did you not shout 'honey, I'm home!' like they did in the old movies?" That was how Magnus greeted me when I walked into his house. He was dressed in a very short, bright green robe. It was very revealing, I immediately noticed and was pretty sure my cheeks betrayed me.

Magnus smirked and brushed is index finger lightly over my cheekbone. "That colour is very appealing. I'll have to get my bed sheets the same shade."

I'm pretty sure said shade got darker at that.

"You're adorable, Alexander." He murmured, still looking at my blush. After a second, he looked into my eyes. "Would you like anything to drink? Ice tea? Camomile? Coffee as something more generic for a New Yorker like yourself?"

"Coffee's fine." Magnus rolled his eyes playfully at my typical choice.

I sat on the sofa and Chairman Meow jumped on my lap then crawled up my chest so his face was centimeters from mine. I scratched his head and he purred contentedly.

Magnus soon came back with my coffee, placing it on the coffee table and smiled when he saw me and Chairman.

"Magnus. Why were you so happy yesterday when Chairman Meow liked me?"

Magnus grinned and replied, "I never date anyone that my cat doesn't like."

I swallowed at the word 'date' and, unsurprisingly, Magnus noticed.

"I won't force you into anything , Alexander. If you don't want me to say we're dating, that's okay. Take your time." Magnus spoke softly and patiently but I was sure I could hear slight hurt in his voice.

I smiled at that, albeit shyly. "So, uh," I coughed once to try to ease into the question "are we, like, boyfriends?"

"That's up to you, dear. Even though I would love to be your boyfriend, it's your decision."

I nodded, thinking. I want to be able to be proud of who/what I am. I couldn't have done that without Magnus. But it's not about owing him or something; I want to be able to say "Yes, I am dating Magnus Bane- he's my boyfriend". I want to be able to get jealous and grip Magnus proclaiming that he's mine and I'm his whenever somebody flirts with him. I want him to know that he means a lot to me. So much so, I decided to do something completely unlike me and probably embarrassing.

I gently took Chairman off my chest (muttering an apology at the angry cat) and shuffled over on the sofa, closer the Magnus. I held out a hand and he took it so I dropped to one knee.

With Magnus frowning at me suspiciously- but not without a twinkle in his eyes- I spoke up. "Magnus Bane. Would you do me the absolute honour of being my boyfriend?" I'm pretty sure my heavy breathing was fogging up the windows by this point.

Magnus suddenly jumped on me and laughed. "Of course I will, Alec!" His arms were hugging my neck tightly as we rolled around the living room floor. I hugged him back around the waist and couldn't stop my hands from wandering; up and down his lean back and bony spine, brushing his shoulder blades, carefully avoiding his "precious" (his word) hair.

I suddenly stopped when my hand brushed the back of his bare thigh and he froze. I thought I heard his mutter "keep your mind out of the gutter, Magnus" but I wasn't sure.

"Sorry, Magnus-"

"Nonsense!" He gave me a reassuring quick kiss on the mouth, then one on my cheek, on my nose and lastly on my forehead. "I quite enjoyed it."

We both got up (Magnus more elegantly). "So, Alexander. What shall we do today?"

I picked up my coffee and blew on it in an attempt to cool it down. "I thought that you would have something planned since you asked me around."

Magnus shook his head, his sharp spikes not moving . "I just wanted to spend time with you. I thought I would leave it up to you. How about a movie and some popcorn on the sofa?"

I nodded. "Sounds great."

Magnus clapped his hands. "As you can imagine, I do not own any "manly action" movies so, you'll have to put up with whatever I have."

I nodded again and sipped my coffee. It was perfect. "Magnus, how do you know how I take my coffee?"

Magnus was across the room and riffling through some DVDs. "I'm very good at reading people, Alexander." I took another sip of the coffee but nearly spat it out when Magnus yelled. "AHA! I know!"

He walked back across the room to me. "Sorry if I startled you, dear, but I have the perfect movie!" He thrusted the DVD into my face and I read it aloud.

"10 Things I Hate About You."

Magnus jumped up and down."Please, please, please."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, okay, YES."

Alec and Magnus were cuddled up together all day after Magnus made popcorn and hot chocolate** (AN**- **I'm calling it hot chocolate, fuck it)**. Alec heard Magnus sigh contentedly. So he sighed back, not needing words, and snuggled closer into Magnus. He couldn't remember ever feeling happier.

* * *

"Come on, Lewis. Get up from the love fest." Clary slapped Simon on the back of the head.

Simon groaned and buried his head into Izzy's hair. "Nooooo. I wanna stay hereeeee."

Clary ducked her head over the back of the sofa. "We have a prank to plan!"

Simon opened his eyes abruptly and grinned. "Yes. Yes we do."

**If you havent seen the film '10 Things I Hate About You', you have not lived. My twitter username is Heath Ledger's (i love him, too) character's name ( ohpatrickverona), I love it that much ahaha**


	25. The Third Prank

**xoxomco: thank you. 10 Things I Hate About You is just amazing. That's the saying, I believe**.

**aftertales: "what is a canteen?" I dont know whether it's an English thing or something certain people say but it's another word for a cafeteria.**  
**"Why did Simon call Jace 'Jace Wayland'? He would only know him as Jace Lightwood." Shit, sorry! That's my fault. I meant Lightwood, haha, I've never noticed before now.**

Simon wiped an imaginary tear away. "I'll be sad to finish these pranks, it's been fun."

Clary watched him from her bed and laughed. "How long did your mom say you could be here?"

"A few hours. She hasn't seen me for today and some of yesterday except for me popping in and telling her I'd be here."

Clary nodded in understanding. "We'd better get planning then."

Simon's mischievous grin reappeared. "Indeed."

Clary stood up and paced slowly. "Okay, so we've vandalised her car, we've covered her in a gross mixture but what else?"

"I think that we should employ a third party." Simon said.

Clary turned to Simon and saw the look on his face. "Izzy?"

Simon blushed slightly and grinned again. "Izzy. Call her."

Clary frowned slightly. "You call her."

"I'm no good on the phone. Or talking to Izzy."

Clary rolled her eyes. "Fine." She pulled out her phone and phone Izzy in her contacts.

"Hey Clary, what's up?"

"Me and Simon are planning a prank on Kaelie and-"

"Kaelie?... Wait. Those other pranks... Those were you two?!" Izzy practically squealed.

Clary laughed slightly. "Yeah."

"I want in."

"Well, that's what we're kinda calling for. We need another idea."

"Are you at your house?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be around in a minute."

Clary put her thumb up to Simon. "I'll text you the address."

"Yay! Okay." Then she hung up.

* * *

"Come on, you two. What would affect her most?"

Clary and Simon looked at Izzy, who was perched on the edge of Clary's bed leaning back on her hands, questioningly.

Izzy shook her head. "She's the most stereotypical high school girl ever. Think! What do they like..?"

"Uh... Make-up, guys, clothes-"

"Eureka! Clothes!"

"... I have no idea where this is going." Simon murmured, looking bewildered.

"We go into her house and ruin her clothes!" Izzy said, like it was the most obvious thing.

Clary's eyes widened. "Izzy! We cant break into her house!"

"Why not?"

"Because... Because... It's illegal." Clary whispered as though she was afraid someone would overhear.

Izzy rolled her eyes. "You vandalised her car, that's also illegal."

"Still!"

Izzy pointed at Simon. "You're not coming with us though, you'd probably fall and wake her up."

"I don't think I _want_ to be in Kaelie's bedroom." Simon shuddered.

Clary sighed. "Fine, I'll do it."

Izzy clapped. "Good! Now. I know where her bedroom is in the house- we used to be friends, believe it or not- and I happen to know that she's a very heavy sleeper so this should be a piece of cake."

"You were friends with Kaelie?" Clary asked. She couldn't seem to imagine them being friends.

Izzy waved her hand. "It's not important. Just know that I regret it."

"Wait," Simon spoke up again. "How will you see her reaction?"

Izzy sighed. "Simon, it's not about seeing the reaction. It's just the knowledge of doing it."

**(Later that night)**

"For God's sake, Clary, at least try to keep up." Izzy whisper-shouted outside Kaelie's house, looking behind her to Clary.

"I. Am. Trying." Clary whisper-shouted back.

When Clary caught up, Izzy gave her a foot's up to the first floor balcony. Clary pulled Izzy up who, luckily for Clary, weighed next to nothing. They then clambered (Clary clambered. Izzy didn't) to the balcony outside Kaelie's- according to Izzy- room.

Izzy pulled some scissors out of her handbag and approached Kaelie's walk-in wardrobe. She gestured for Clary to join her. Clary tip-toed slowly, careful to avoid bras and shoes strewn across the floor.

They walked into the wardrobe and silently got to work cutting up the clothing. Izzy spotted some shoe boxes and went over to them.

She gasped. "Clary," she was still whispering. "Look! These heels are brand new! They've never been worn! AND we have the same size feet!... I'm taking these."

"Izzy! Stop stealing her shoes."

Izzy tutted quietly, the heels now in her seemingly bottomless bag. "It's only one pair. Besides, that slut could never appreciate these beautys."

"Come on, Iz. Carry on cutting."

Two very long hours later and Clary and Izzy were finished.

"Okay, Clary. Let's go."

As they walked back to the house, Clary decided to ask about Simon. "So... Are you and Simon, like, a thing now?"

Izzy shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. I'm used to the guy making the first move. With Simon, it's like he wants to be with me but he also doesn't."

"You seem less... confident with Simon."

Izzy shrugged again and kicked a twig in her path. "It's different with him. I feel different to him. When I was with Jonathan, I didn't care about him not meeting my parents and things like that. But Simon means more to me and we aren't even exclusively a thing."

"You should talk to him. He won't know what you want unless you tell him outright."

Izzy nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. "I think you're right," She slung an arm around Clary's shoulders. "Thanks."

**I'm** **sorry if this was** **a** **bit shit, the second half was slightly rushed.**


	26. Sunday

**_I know, I know. You weren't expecting an update so soon and I barely gave you chance to read the last chapter but hey ho, I felt write-y._**

**AnonymousBooks: I am! I am! Haha**

Sunday. The day of rest. Clary and Jace were in Jace's bed (Clary was adamant that Clary's mother wouldnt allow him to be in hers) and watching a movie. Sitting against the headboard, Clary's back to Jace's front, his legs outside hers.

"That guy- what's his name again?"

"Jack."

"Yeah him. He's a tool."

"It's, like, 5 minutes in. How can you know?"

"I just know. He'll die first, I bet."

Clary just shook her head and chuckled slightly. After a few seconds she spoke again. "I like this."

"I don't, it's terrible. Who even chose this? The script is dull, the acting is dreadful-"

Clary tilted her head back to look at him. "Jace, I didn't mean the movie."

He frowned down at her, then realisation showed on his face. "Ohhhhhh." And made a gesture between the two of them and Clary nodded before rolling her eyes playfully and turning back to the screen.

"You know," Jace slipped her hair over to one shoulder and kissed her neck. "I'll have to arrange a real date." Another kiss. "One where I can show you off to everyone." Another kiss. "Let them all know that you're mine," A longer kiss, marking her neck "and that I'm yours."

Clary couldn't deny the tingling feeling in her stomach when Jace called her his and maybe even more so when he said that he was hers.

"Mmm. And what makes you think, I would agree?"

Clary noticed Jace's golden eyes darken slightly as they always did when the two were in these kinds of situations.

"Well, I'd have to convince you. Or make you." Jace kissed the back of Clary's neck, the spot that- he found out earlier- made her squirm.

"Make me?" Clary could feel that she was getting a little bit breathless but she tried not to let it show.

"I have my ways, Clarissa." He whispered in her ear, smirking.

He ran his fingers slowly up Clary's top until the reached her ribs then began wiggling his fingers. Clary couldn't stop the giggle and immediately put her hand over her mouth as soon as it came out, hoping Jace didn't hear it.

He did, though. Clary turned around in his arms and backed away as far as possible on the bed. Jace crawled towards her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and Clary was again reminded of his resemblance to a lion. When she was deep in thought, he pounced, pinning her arms above her head with one hand and tickling her mercilessly with the other.

Jace couldn't help but smile down at this giggling red head underneath him. This girl that he could proudly call his girlfriend.

* * *

"Alexander, I am sorry! How many times do I have to say it? I didn't know you'd be here early!"

Alec was bright red and breathing heavily. "Magnus! That still doesn't explain... THAT!"

"I like to feel free."

Alec blushed harder, if possible.

"Alexander, take your hands off your eyes."

Alec did so but warily. Magnus was crouched in front of him in tight, red, leather trousers and a white tank top that said 'P-A-R-T-Y' on the front in bright yellow lettering. His hair wasn't in spikes and he had no make up on. Alec liked the no make up look and when his hair hung loosely, he realised happily.

"Magnus. What possesses you to walk around your house naked?" Alec tried to speak calmly but he had seen everything. _Everything._ Not that he particularly disliked it but... still.

"Don't act like you didn't like it, I saw you staring." Magnus winked.

"I did not!"

"I didn't mean to startle you, Alec. I really didn't do it on purpose. You shouldn't be embarrassed anyway, I'm sure you have one." Magnus softly kissed Alec's nose and then the corner of his mouth in a comforting gesture.

Alec exhaled. "Can we just... forget it?"

Magnus smiled and kissed Alec's lips in another comforting gesture. "Of course, baby." He stood up and turned to walk away. "Let me just do my hair."

Alec grabbed his wrist. "No, don't. I like it like that."

Magnus smiled widely and genuinely. "Really?"

Alec smiled back at Magnus and pulled him down so he was sitting on the sofa next to him. "Yes, really."

* * *

"Simon, stop pacing."

Simon stopped in front of Izzy. "Sorry. Okay... I'm going to just ask. I know that I thought you don't like me like that, then you kissed me. Or I kissed you..." Simon shook his head. "We kissed, is my point, and I really really like you, Iz, for the longest time and-"

Izzy rested a hand on his arm. "Simon. Slow down."

"Yeah, uh. Yeah. What I was trying to ask is; Will you be my girlfriend?"

Izzy smiled. "I would love to."

"But...?"

Izzy frowned. "But nothing. Yes, I will be you girlf-"

Izzy was cut off when Simon scooped her into a hug. "You have no idea how good this feel."

"You're a really good hugger, Si."

Izzy felt Simon chuckle. "Thanks." A few moments passed before Simon spoke again. "I won't treat you like he did, Izzy. You deserve so much more than that."

"I don't think I deserve you, though."

"You deserve a lot more than me, Izzy, but I'll give you as much as I can."

"You have no idea how much that means, Simon. Even though I don't deserve more than you."

"Iz-"

"Maybe we should both accept that we're perfect for each other."

Another laugh from Simon. "Maybe."

**So guys. This is the last chapter, other than an epilogue. It's truly been a pleasure. I won't say too much, I'll save that for the final chapter.**


	27. Prologue

**JaceHerondale17: I wish I was Clary, too. Can you imagine dating Jace?! Holy shit. I would**.

**YayitsCaroline: ah, thank you**

**ClaceAndPeenis4eva: me neither! It seems so weird to be finishing it. I loved writing it.**

**MrsIvashkov: thank you**

**Liss3100: me too.**

**AnonymousBooks: hehe thanks**

**SuShadowhunter from Ravenclaw: it has to end eventually haha. Ah, sorry. Glad you liked it, though**.

**_Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. The end of the end. It's been crazy, trust me. I'm not going to go overboard on the thanks, I have another upload to do that on._**

(1 month later)

"Jace! I'm going to fall, I don't like this."

"I'm right behind you, Clary, you won't fall."

Clary's hands were holding onto Jace's which were covering her eyes. The sun was setting and Jace was leading Clary towards a small beach.

"It's a good job I trust you." Clary muttered.

Jace smiled.

"Why did I have to wear a dress? I haven't even seen what you're wearing."

"I look really, really hot."

Clary scoffed.

"Excuse me? I do!"

Clary laughed. "I'm sure you do."

"That's more like it," Jace kissed her head.

"Are we nearly there? After driving for ages and walking for, like, 10 minutes I'm bored."

Jace shook his head, smiling. "Yes we're nearly there." There was a pause. "Here."

Jace slowly drew his hands from Clary's eyes. Clary blinked a few times to regain her eyesight then gasped. In front of her was a view of the setting sun from the beach. There was a picnic basket on a blanket and tulip petals on the blanket.

Jace wrapped his arms around Clary's waist from behind and rested his head on her shoulder, whispering in her ear. "I know you prefer tulips over roses. Do you like it?" He asked unsurely.

Clary turned around in his arms and cupped his face. "Jace I love it, it's perfect."

Jace smiled largely. "Thank God," he kissed her shortly. "And I do look hot, don't I?"

Clary looked him up and down. He was wearing a tuxedo. "Definitely."

Jace grinned and kissed her much longer this time then led her to the blanket and they sat facing the setting sun. "Happy one month anniversary."

Clary frowned. "That's a thing people celebrate?!"

Jace shrugged. "Sometimes," he offered her a sandwich and she accepted. "but I wanted to do something for it."

"You should have told me."

Jace took an apple slice. "You liked the surprise."

"Maybe a little."

Jace smiled and they stayed in a comfortable silence.

"Remember the day after we started dating and that mix up?"

Clary laughed. It wasn't awkward to talk about anymore, it was pretty amusing. "Yeah."

"Well," Jace cleared his throat. He turned towards Clary and took her hands. "Clarissa. Clary. Red. Whichever. I know for certain now that I love you. I love you so much. I'm being 100% honest when I say that I couldn't imagine saying that to any girl like this before you came along. But you came into my life and I just... I could imagine doing so many things I never thought I would and they all seemed so right. If you're not ready to say that, I get it-"

Clary kissed Jace passionately, tears glistening in her eyes. She pulled away after what felt like hours. "I love you, Jace Lightwood. I do, I love you. And you'd better believe it you soppy, beautiful boy."

They sat there for hours, talking. Talking about their families, Simon and Izzy and Magnus and Alec, life before each other (both agreed it wasn't as amazing as it is now) and their future. Knowing already that they'd be together for a long time yet.


	28. Thank You All

Hello, readers. I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who read, favourited, followed and reviewed this story. It truly means so much to me; without your support I would've stopped this after the first chapter, without a doubt. Get this: OVER 27 _THOUSAND_ people bothered to read this. I couldn't even imagine 27 people reading my work. You all have no idea how grateful I am, ESPECIALLY if you kept up with it. I really am so sad to let this fanfic- which was my first full and proper one- go. I loved everything about writing this; even staying up until 4 in the fucking morning to finish a goddamn chapter. This fanfic will always be special to me and, who knows, maybe there will be a sequel. I genuinely can't express how surreal it is to have my writing supported by this many people- no amount of thanks would suffice. I hope you guys will continue to follow me and my writing to my next fanfic. Shoutout to all of the reviewers- especially the ones who bothered to do so frequently. You actually bothered to take the same to type out your support and, for that, I thank you immensely. BASICALLY YOU'RE ALL FUCKING RAD.

So now I say goodbye to Bittersweet (wow getting a lil emosh). Until the sequel. Maybe. I don't know yet.

-Danni aka butmalecismyotp


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